• Kickback

    Origin

    kick + back.

    Full definition of kickback

    Noun

    kickback

    (plural kickbacks)
    1. (countable) A backward kick.
      • 2010, Christina T. Loguidice, ‎Bill Loguidice, Wii Fitness For DummiesKickbacks work the triceps muscle at the back of your arm. Exercising these muscles helps eliminate arm jiggle.
    2. (countable) A clandestine payment in return for a favor; especially an illegal one
    3. (uncountable, firearms, machinery) Recoil; a sudden backward motion, usually in the direction of the operator.
    4. (countable, machinery) An accident wherein an object being cut by a rotating blade or disk, such as a circular saw, is caught by the blade and thrown outward
    5. (oil drilling) A dangerous buildup of gas pressure at the wellhead
    6. (countable, bowling) The board separating one bowling lane from another at the pit end
    7. (uncountable, bridge) In contract bridge, an ace asking convention initiated by the first step above four of the agreed trump suit.
    8. (pinball) A feature that saves the ball from draining and propels it back into play.
      • 1973, Doug Anderson, Pinball Wizard (in Texas Monthly volume 1, number 7, August 1973, page 84)We've come a long way since then. The progeny of that nail have been bent and twisted into what we all know and love as roll overs, kickbacks, and thumper-bumpers.
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