Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
kick a dog when it's down en · VERB
Pronunciation
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To make things worse for someone in an adverse situation.
but we learned for the first time last Monday night that the Atalantas would kick a dog when he's down. We were beaten ten pins; of course the At-A-lantas (as Spark puts it) will claim one hundred and ten, but the hundred were felled by Miller jumping on the alleys.
1891, The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, volume 6:I don't like to kick a dog when he's down, and Earns has had a heap of trouble with his father's death and all
1919, Jewell Bothwell Tull, “The Phantom Lion of Goodrich Creek”, in South Dakota Educator, volume 33:
Forms
Synonyms
kick someone when they are down