kicker
[kik-er]
- a person or thing that kicks.
- Informal.
- a disadvantageous point or circumstance, usually concealed or unnoticed: The tickets are free, but the kicker is that you have to wait in line for hours to get them.
- a surprising change or turn of events: The kicker was that their friends knew it before they did.
- something extra, as an additional cost or gain; an added expense or financial incentive.
- Draw Poker. a card, usually an ace or face card, held with a pair or three of a kind in the hope of drawing a matching card.
- (in concrete construction) a low plinth at the base of a column.
- kickers, Slang. shoes, especially leisure shoes.
- Nautical.
- a small, low-powered outboard motor.
- an auxiliary engine on a sailing vessel, river steamer, etc.
- Slang. the alcoholic liquor in a mixed drink.
- Also called eyebrow, highline, overline, teaser. Printing, Journalism. a short line of copy set in a distinctive type above a headline and intended to call attention to it.
- Metallurgy. a charge of high-carbon iron that produces a vigorous boil when charged into an open-hearth furnace containing slag and molten metal of lower carbon content.
- Also called kicker light. Photography. a light source coming from the back and side of a subject and producing a highlight.
Origin of kicker
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kicker
Contemporary Examples
And the kicker is—some of the candidates are even Republicans.
The kicker to it is that the worst part is that the person in the nightmare experience ends up being a Democrat too.
Thong Models, Racist Rants, and Other Salacious Bits from Scott Walker’s Secret Email TroveBen Jacobs
February 20, 2014
The kicker: “Grossly inaccurate,” attributed to Senators Feinstein, Levin, and McCain.
And, of course, the kicker, “Ben Affleck, argo find your seat.”
Then closed with a recycled, but always poignant, “red state/blue state/UNITED states” kicker.
Historical Examples
But here's the kicker: even though no one else can get in, you can't get out!
Suite MentaleGordon Randall Garrett
"No, I'll go out after that kicker," he said, ashamed of his slovenly work.
Blue-Bird WeatherRobert W. Chambers
It was a kicker, like the ostrich; in fight it did not use its beak, but its foot.
Following the Equator, CompleteMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Was the Marigold a real yacht, or just a row-boat with a kicker behind?
The Campfire Girls of RoselawnMargaret Penrose
He hated the one twin for kicking him, and the other one for being the kicker's brother.
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead WilsonMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
kicker
- a person or thing that kicks
- sport a player in a rugby or occasionally a soccer team whose task is to attempt to kick conversions, penalty goals, etc
- US and Canadian slang a hidden and disadvantageous factor, such as a clause in a contract
- informal any light outboard motor for propelling a boat
- poker the highest unpaired card in a hand, used to decide the outcome of an otherwise tied round
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for kicker
n.
1570s, agent noun from kick (v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper