kicker

[ kik-er ]

noun

1. a person or thing that kicks.
2. Informal.
   1. 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.

   2. a surprising change or turn of events:

      The kicker was that their friends knew it before they did.

3. something extra, as an additional cost or gain; an added expense or financial incentive.
4. 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.
5. (in concrete construction) a low plinth at the base of a column.
6. kickers, Slang. shoes, especially leisure shoes.
7. Nautical.
   1. a small, low-powered outboard motor.
   2. an auxiliary engine on a sailing vessel, river steamer, etc.
8. Slang. the alcoholic liquor in a mixed drink.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Also called kicker light. Photography. a light source coming from the back and side of a subject and producing a highlight.

kicker

/ ˈkɪkə /

noun

1. a person or thing that kicks
2. sport a player in a rugby or occasionally a soccer team whose task is to attempt to kick conversions, penalty goals, etc
3. slang.
   a hidden and disadvantageous factor, such as a clause in a contract
4. informal.
   any light outboard motor for propelling a boat
5. poker the highest unpaired card in a hand, used to decide the outcome of an otherwise tied round

Word History and Origins

Origin of kicker¹

First recorded in 1565–75; kick + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Bob Warden, a former kicker for Brown’s football team, and his wife, Margaret Smith Walden, a former Yale hockey player, pushed the Ivy League Council of Presidents for a return to competition in January, according to Sports Business Journal.

From Washington Post

Wherever she lands, the first time she steps on the field, she will be the first woman to play a position other than punter or kicker on an NCAA team.

From Washington Post

He attended practice regularly, counseled Rivera during difficult decisions and provided feedback on how the coach could improve as a leader, including being nicer to his kicker.

From Washington Post

Before that moment, though, kickers are treated like an afterthought — by the teams that will eventually count on them and by the schools that primarily spend their scholarships elsewhere.

From FiveThirtyEight

Fuller became part of the Commodores’ football squad after the team’s regular kickers were sidelined by the coronavirus.

From Washington Post

And the kicker is—some of the candidates are even Republicans.

From The Daily Beast

The kicker to it is that the worst part is that the person in the nightmare experience ends up being a Democrat too.

From The Daily Beast

He should have shifted the blame from his field goal kicker to himself.

From The Daily Beast

He left on the bench his starting kicker who had been having a terrible day, missing three earlier field goals.

From The Daily Beast

Gil Norton is an ass-kicker, so he put a lot of pressure on me to come up with the goods in a way that rang true to him.

From The Daily Beast

There was a game of foot-ball just about to begin, and Barney was conceded to be the best kicker for his size in all Hackerton.

From Project Gutenberg

If he fidgets, you will find a long day on his back most fatiguing, and should he be a kicker your enjoyment will be marred.

From Project Gutenberg

On your "side-kicker's" nerve, loyalty, aim, and coolness your own life may depend many times.

From Project Gutenberg

Unless I was the kicker, I think Paddy would have returned up the staircase after his assailant.

From Project Gutenberg

Harris was a left-foot kicker and was accustomed to taking a pretty long stride to the left side before he swung.

From Project Gutenberg