Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To extend the leg away from the body; strike out with the foot or feet.
  • intransitive verb To score or gain ground by kicking a ball.
  • intransitive verb To punt in football.
  • intransitive verb To propel the body in swimming by moving the legs, as with a flutter kick or frog kick.
  • intransitive verb To recoil.
  • intransitive verb To express negative feelings vigorously; complain.
  • intransitive verb To oppose by argument; protest.
  • intransitive verb To strike with the foot.
  • intransitive verb To propel by striking with the foot.
  • intransitive verb To spring back against suddenly.
  • intransitive verb Sports To score (a goal or point) by kicking a ball.
  • noun A vigorous blow with the foot.
  • noun Sports The motion of the legs that propels the body in swimming.
  • noun Any of various moves in dance in which the leg is extended from the body.
  • noun A jolting recoil.
  • noun Slang A complaint; a protest.
  • noun Slang Power; force.
  • noun A feeling of pleasurable stimulation.
  • noun Fun.
  • noun Slang Temporary, often obsessive interest.
  • noun Slang A sudden, striking surprise; a twist.
  • noun The act or an instance of kicking a ball.
  • noun A kicked ball.
  • noun The distance spanned by a kicked ball.
  • idiom (kick ass/butt) To take forceful or harsh measures to achieve an objective.
  • idiom (kick the bucket) To die.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English kiken, perhaps of Scandinavian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of kick the bucket

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English kiken ("to strike out with the foot"), probably from Old Norse kikna ("to sink at the knees") and keikja ("to bend backwards") (compare Old Norse keikr ("bent backwards, the belly jutting forward")), from Proto-Germanic *kaik-, *kaikaz (“bent backwards”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kī-, *kij- (“to split, dodge, swerve sidewards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵeyǝ- (“to sprout, shoot”). Compare also Dutch kijken ("to look"), Middle Low German kīken ("to look, watch"). See keek.

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Examples

Comments

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  • The hollow at the bottom of a wine bottle--also called a punt

    February 23, 2007

  • See player.

    September 9, 2007