kick out
Britishverb
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informal to eject or dismiss
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basketball (of a player who has dribbled towards the basket) to pass the ball to a player further away from the basket
noun
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basketball an instance of kicking out the ball
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(in Gaelic football) a free kick to restart play after a goal or after the ball has gone out of play
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Also, boot out . Throw out, dismiss, especially ignominiously. For example, George said they'd been kicked out of the country club , or The owner booted them out of the restaurant for being loud and disorderly . This idiom alludes to expelling someone with a kick in the pants . [Late 1600s]
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Supply, especially in a sorted fashion, as in The bureau kicked out the precise data for this month's production . [ Slang ; late 1900s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dan said the next move in the "diplomatic hierarchy of measures" would be to kick out the Russian ambassador.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Some properties assign security guards to ask young shoppers to show identification at the entrance, while others rely on specially trained staff to selectively kick out troublemakers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Keck Education Center, which will be overrun by excitable children who will get a big kick out of the fountain’s inviting whirl and swirl.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
Judge Drew Tipton, whom President Donald Trump nominated in 2020, granted the prosecutor and police’s motion to kick out the case based largely on the idea of qualified immunity.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
Chase and his father always got a big kick out of watching television reporters during disasters.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
