to kick to the curb
- idiom
- Informal
- Feeling unappreciated, she chose to kick her old habits to the curb for a healthier lifestyle.
This one just kind of kicked L'Oreal Lash Paradise to the curb.
- This one just kind of kicked L'Oreal Lash Paradise to the curb.
- And I kicked the Prozac to the curb and didn't even know that unconsciously expected him to be the fix.
Examples
-
When she realized he was disloyal, she decided to kick him to the curb and move on with her life.
-
Well, other countries would kick these kids to the curb!
Blog text (17) -
But that would never have happened anyhow; the RNC kicked her to the curb.
Blog text (21) -
Anyone taking bets on when Palin gets kicked to the curb?
Blog text (21) -
I've seen it happen: man moves on, has more kids, originals are kicked to the curb.
Blog text (6) -
I say kick her butt to the curb and find someone to run the market who enjoys their position and encourages everyone to come out to their local Farmer's Market.
Blog text (19) -
They should be prepared to learn on their own for the rest of their lives because you may get your foot in the door with a college degree, but you're going to have to prove your value or be kicked to the curb.
Blog text (24) -
The liberal media is helping you alienate yourself from conservatives, and when you have burned that bridge, they'll kick you to the curb like a used piece of trash.
Blog text (2) -
After serving five years in the company, he felt they were ready to kick him to the curb without any notice.
Synonyms
To remove or throw away something you do not want
To stop employing someone so they lose their job
Force someone to leave a place or group
To end a romantic relationship suddenly and without care
To force someone to leave a place, job, or group
To abandon a person, plan, or thing suddenly
To tell people to leave a meeting or room
Force someone to leave a job or organization suddenly
Suddenly stop seeing or talking to someone
To stop someone from working at their job, usually because of bad work or behavior
Reject or ignore people and things you no longer want
To make someone leave quickly to show they are not wanted
To tell someone to leave their job or to stop using something
Make someone leave quickly and forcefully
To reject or get rid of something no longer needed
To force someone to leave a place, group or job
To get rid of something unwanted, for example a bad habit or a weak branch
To force someone to leave a place usually because they cause trouble
To end a relationship or stop someone from working for you
To stop employing someone, often suddenly as punishment
To suddenly end someone's job or a relationship, often without warning
To end a relationship or job suddenly and harshly
End someone's job or relationship suddenly and without warning
Antonyms
How Rejected
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
kick + to + the + curb
The literal meanings of 'kick' and 'curb' create a clear image of being physically expelled to the roadside, so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer a sense of rejecting or ejecting someone. However the transfer from a physical action to the social/figurative meaning 'discard or reject' is a metaphorical extension and idiomatic in usage, making the relation only partially predictable.
Etymology
The idiom kick to the curb comes from the image of using your foot to push unwanted things out to the street edge: kick is the foot action and the curb is the raised edge of the road where trash might sit. So it means 'to reject or throw away' someone or something.