The word ‘kick‘ can mean many different things. As a verb, it involves striking a person/object with your foot or quitting a habit/addiction.
For example:
- Ronaldo kicked the ball into the back of the net. (striking a person/object with your foot)
- I’ve kicked the booze for good this time. (quitting a habit/addiction)
Kick is a regular verb. The past tense is kicked and the past participle is kicked. I’ll give you an example sentence of each tense:
- I always kick my sister when she’s mean to me. (present)
- He kicked the car door so hard that it broke. (past)
- I will kick my smoking habit this year. (future)
idioms with kick
alive and kicking
meaning – in good health, active
example – I didn’t think the injured baby owl would survive. Four days on and it’s alive and kicking.
get a kick out of something
meaning – to enjoy something/get pleasure out of something
example – I really get a kick out of fishing; I’ve been twice this week already.
kick in the teeth
meaning – emphasising disappointment
example – Losing 1-0 in the 92nd minute was a real kick in the teeth for County.
kick into touch
meaning – stop something happening/succeeding
example – Our plans for a new home have been kicked into touch now I’m unemployed.
kick off
meaning – the start of an event/activity or start arguing/fighting
example – I’m leaving work at 6, so I’ll be back in time for kick off.
kick oneself
meaning – be annoyed at yourself for doing something silly/missing an opportunity
example – We kicked ourselves when we realised we mixed up the flight dates.
kick someone off/out of something
meaning – force someone to leave a group/team/committee/building etc.
example – Josh was kicked out of the AA meeting for turning up drunk.
kick something around
meaning – discuss ideas
example – The meeting went on forever. We were kicking around ideas but couldn’t agree on anything.
kick the bucket
meaning – die
example – When I kick the bucket, I’ll leave you my record collection.
kick the habit
meaning – stop doing something harmful/addictive
example – Noah was addicted to crack for years. He’s finally kicked the habit.
kick to the curb
meaning – dismiss/abandon/humiliate someone/something
example – Helen has been working for Carson for 30 years and he just kicked her to the curb.
If you’ve enjoyed idioms with kick, how about learning some more?
