kicker en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- /ˈkɪkɚ/ (General-American)
- (US) audio
- /ˈkɪkə/ (UK)
Etymology
From kick + -er.
Meanings
- One who kicks.
- One who takes kicks.
- One who takes kicks. ▸ A placekicker: a player who kicks the football during free kicks, kick offs, field goals, and extra point tries.
- The kicking strap.
- (informal) An outboard motor.
-
(colloquial) An unexpected situation, detail or circumstance, often unpleasant, serving as a punchline or clincher.
John wants to climb the wall, but the kicker is that it is thirty feet tall.
If the coffee is currently being spilled, I can't unspill it. And here's the kicker. You can't change the future, because it hasn't happened yet.
2016, David Zelman, If I Can, You Can: Transformation Made Easy:Tuition is free; the kicker is that mandatory room and board costs twice as much as at other colleges.
They want me gone, wait for the kicker / Bury me now and I only get bigger
2017, “Gyalchester”, in More Life, performed by Drake:
- An enticement for investors, e.g. warranty added to the investment contract.
-
An unpaired card which is part of a pair, two pair, or three of a kind poker hand.
Jill's hand was two pair, aces and sevens, with a king kicker.
-
Small text above a headline that indicates the topic of the story.
Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.
1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing, page 104:
- The last one or two paragraphs of a story.
- Synonym of lead-in (“start of photo caption”).
-
A lighthearted or humorous item used to round off a news broadcast.
Instead, a reporter can carve out a niche as an entertainment/community reporter, thus concentrating their efforts on filing feature stories for the E block, where the kickers are slated. Kickers are feel-good pieces placed at the end of the newscast to leave viewers in a good mood […]
2013, Frank Barnas, Ted White, Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, page 77:[…] international news and politics, and heavy on the light stuff: local news, entertainment and merry little kickers […]
1984, Media Report to Women, volume 12, page 46:
-
A device that periodically displaces a newspaper from the print production line, to aid in gathering the newspapers into fixed-size bundles.
In a printing machine, the combination of a kicker mechanism for displacing a newspaper […]
1931, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, page 490:
- A launch ramp.
- (slang) The fermenting mass of fruit that is the basis of pruno, or "prison wine".
- (informal) A relaxed party.
- A backlight positioned at an angle.
- (qualifier:pinball) A rubber pad that propels the ball away upon impact, like a bumper, but usually a horizontal side of a wall.
- (qualifier:performance art) A practitioner of the kicking performance art.
- (US, archaic, slang) A complainer.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| kickers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
mud-kicker · drop-kicker · knee kicker · daisy-kicker · can kicker · mud kicker · buttkicker · shitkicker · goalkicker · tire kicker · tyre kicker · ballkicker · ass-kicker · claykicker
Descendants
Relateds
Synonyms
lead-in · kick · kickback · motor
Translations (21)
de Kicker (sports: one who takes kicks) · cs kopáč (sports: one who takes kicks) · ka დამრტყმელი (sports: one who takes kicks) · la calcitrō (one who kicks) · de Dachzeile (journalism: Small text above a headline that indicates the topic of the story) · fr carte de départage (poker: unpaired card in a poker hand) · ru подвох (colloquial: unexpected situation or detail) · fi porkkana (finance: enticement for investors) · fr blème (colloquial: unexpected situation or detail) · fi lopetus (journalism: the last paragraph or two of a story) · fi juju (colloquial: unexpected situation or detail) · fi potkija (one who kicks) · fi perätuuppari (nautical, informal: outboard motor) · pt pé da matéria (journalism: the last paragraph or two of a story) · fr kicker (poker: unpaired card in a poker hand) · he קיקר (poker: unpaired card in a poker hand) · fi houkutin (finance: enticement for investors) · bg извънборден мотор (nautical, informal: outboard motor) · ca xutador (sports: one who takes kicks) · es giro inesperado (colloquial: unexpected situation or detail) · fi hai (poker: unpaired card in a poker hand)