kicker
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.
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
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use kicker in a sentence
The office-door stood wide open and the kickers were welcomed, as you might say, with open arms.
The Wreckers | Francis LyndeHe and Felton were two of Harvard's greatest punters, and both of them were leftfooted kickers.
Seeing Things at Night | Heywood BrounOf course there were kickers, but those kind of people will be found everywhere.
An American Hobo in Europe | Ben GoodkindThere's kickers and biters and shirks amongst them; but if they won't learn and can't learn, they get 'condemned.'
The Cup of Trembling and Other Stories | Mary Hallock FooteThis is particularly noticeable in cases where the parts are regularly and repeatedly injured as in habitual kickers.
Lameness of the Horse | John Victor Lacroix
British Dictionary definitions for kicker
/ (ˈkɪkə) /
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
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