kidney punch

American  

noun

Boxing.

1. an illegal punch in the lower back.

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Example Sentences

“We’re not bleeding. We got a kidney punch, we got the wind knocked out of us, but we’ll get our wind back.”

From Seattle Times

There’s some pushback from players if you focus merely on the violence and ignore the grace, efficiency, precision, endurance and strategy that ultimately decides whether a team is elite in ways that an underwater kidney punch can’t.

From Los Angeles Times

It was an emotional kidney punch and I don’t know how or if I should forgive her.

From Slate

But he could only watch as his team’s two best relievers imploded in the ninth inning, coughing up five runs before recording three outs and turning a two-run lead into a 5-2 kidney punch of a defeat.

From Seattle Times

The result is shockingly quick and troublingly fast: 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds—like a supple leather kidney punch—and a top speed of 176 mph.

From The Wall Street Journal