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Glite Dictionary
💸 To pay illegally 🔫 To recoil suddenly
to kick back

to kick back

2 6.1
To move back suddenly because of a strong hit
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɪk bæk/
translation icon : retroceder
  • The worker suffered fatal injuries when a gas-powered saw kicked back while he and another employee were cutting sections of old cast-iron pipe.

Examples

  • "Number one, fire!" The gun seemed to literally leap into the air, kicking back several paces.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The massive cylinder hit the edge of the trailer hard enough to bounce Carl in his seat, then kicked back and smashed into the ice at the edge of the excavation.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • And every time it went off, it kicked back like a musket.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Instead, he kicked back with both feet, like a mule: "Yeah, go ahead."

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Your head kicks back; sometimes you hear bells ringing.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • When the saw kicked back, he banged up his knee.

    Blog text (32)

  • The back pops out and it leans and it kicks back like that and projects sound into the room.

  • We recently cut some doors through wood paneling in the barn, and the skill saw kicked back so badly.

    Blog text (23)

  • You need to hold the machine firmly, or it will kick back and injure you.

  • When the powerful engine started, it began to kick back unexpectedly, almost knocking me over.

Synonyms

to kick
vsto kick back
323 6.8

Move back suddenly because of a strong push or impact

is the term for the same sudden springing back in machines
to recoil
vsto kick back
19 4.9

To move quickly backward because of fear, pain, or disgust

is focused on a mechanical push or impact rather than emotional reaction
to rebound
vsto kick back
19 2.9

To spring back after hitting something

is caused by a forceful thrust rather than only by hitting a surface
to rear back
vsto kick back
  • Informal
2 7.4

Move back suddenly in anger or protest

refers to a mechanical springing back rather than a human emotional response

Antonyms

to advance
417 3.4

To help something move forward or become better

How Forceful

to kick back
2 6.1
to jolt
15 3.7
to jerk
217 2.0

Surface Forms

kick back infinitive
kicked back past
kicked back past participle
kicking back present participle
kicks back third person singular

Morphology

kick + back

The sense 'to recoil or spring backward' is directly compositional from 'kick' (a sudden forceful movement) + 'back' (toward the rear), following a common verb + directional particle pattern that is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows those constituent meanings would readily infer it. (The provided gloss of 'back' as 'to provide support' is a different sense and could mislead, and there are other idiomatic senses of 'kick back' like 'relax' or 'bribe', but the recoil meaning itself is transparent.)

Etymology

Kick back for machines comes from the clear picture of a tool or gun that kicks toward the back, suddenly jumping backward when it fires or hits something. So, it now means 'to recoil' or 'to move backward'.