to kick ass and take names
3
9.9
- idiom
- Offensive
:
partirla
- With that presentation, we plan to kick ass and take names at the conference.
- gonna kick ass and take names
Think she'd be kicking ass and taking names?
- Think she'd be kicking ass and taking names?
Examples
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It's serious work that requires you to look at yourself, figure out your problems and insecurities, deal with those, decide to be a winner, go out, kick ass, and take names.
Blog text (15) -
When it came to my project, I was gonna kick ass and take names.
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We'll kick ass and take names.
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When we kicked off the second half, I mean, we did kick ass and take names.
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In any event, they were in superb condition and could "kick ass and take names."
Blog text (13) -
There are women who are fully capable of kicking ass and taking names.
Blog text (13) -
I'll be reading and re-reading your blog entries, kicking ass and taking names.
Blog text (6) -
And when I get to Washington. I'm in giving him a hell I can promise you, Dad Chip Majors is going to kick ass and take names.
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I was an SEC enforcement attorney during the generally regarded halcyon days of the Sporkin era, and I can tell you, we kicked ass and took names.
Blog text (15) -
I owe it to Indie authors everywhere to kick ass and take names (of agents preferably, though with all these adverbs...).
Blog text (27)
Synonyms
65
9.3
To be very good and impressive
45
9.0
To beat or punish someone very badly
18
8.5
To do very well and win a game or contest
16
9.9
To beat someone very badly in a fight or competition
11
8.7
To beat someone by a large amount in a contest or game
1
9.9
To defeat someone completely, often physically or in a game, used in rude speech
1
8.8
Beat someone by a lot
Antonyms
How Successful
- Offensive
3
9.9
- Informal
15
7.9
∞
1.0
520
1.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
kick + ass + and + take + name
The components give partial clues: 'kick' suggests force/defeat and 'take names' literally suggests recording people, so a learner might infer a sense of aggressively overcoming opponents. However the combination is colloquial, metaphorical and vulgar, and the exact idiomatic meaning 'to dominate, act decisively, or achieve forceful success' is not fully predictable for a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Kick ass and take names paints a direct picture: first you kick ass — beat your enemies — then you take names — write down who you defeated. This picture of winning and writing names led the phrase to mean 'to win strongly and show confidence'.