kicker

[ kik-er ]

/ ˈkɪk ər /

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noun

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.

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Origin of kicker

First recorded in 1565–75; kick + -er¹

Dictionary.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 Lynde
He and Felton were two of Harvard's greatest punters, and both of them were leftfooted kickers.
Seeing Things at Night|Heywood Broun
Of course there were kickers, but those kind of people will be found everywhere.
An American Hobo in Europe|Ben Goodkind
There'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 Foote

This 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

kicker

/ (ˈkɪkə) /

noun

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

kicker

Origin of kicker

Words related to kicker

How to use kicker in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for kicker