kicker n.6
1. (orig. US) the last, most problematical piece of information.
Another Mug for the Bier 106: The kicker, of course, was the station wagon [...] who ever heard of having a station wagon without painting a coy name on the side of it? | ||
Dog Soldiers (1976) 238: And the kicker is—he was never there. | ||
Fields of Fire (1980) 358: Then there had been the kicker. ‘I can’t understand how someone could stand by and watch this happen.’. | ||
Campus Sl. Oct. | ||
Homeboy 152: And here’s the kicker [...] this Arkie bohunk named Hutchinson actually [...] helped himself to some of that boy’s butthole. | ||
(con. 1962) Enchanters 76: ‘You want the kicker? Deedee’s enforcer [...] playing the role of the irate husband, is her real-life brother’. |
2. a culminatory action.
One Lonely Night 80: Maybe they were playing real cute and sent her in for the kicker. | ||
Q&A 63: But the kicker is, while I was in the courtroom, I had this South American lady client waiting [...] She said, ‘Does this happen often in American courts?’ How do you like that shit? | ||
Plainclothes Naked (2002) 69: The kicker came at a dinner party Marge dragged him to. | ||
Turning Angel 147: But the real kicker [...] is that she didn’t just call him direct. | ||
Life 431: I said [...] Your sister will hate you forever. He threw in the towel. I knew that was the kicker. | ||
(con. 1963) November Road 4: The art of the payoff. Guidry understood each man’s price, the right kicker to close the deal. | ||
(con. 1962) Enchanters 39: He’s going There, there. Here’s the kicker. |
In phrases
(US) for good measure.
It’s Cold Out There 132: The trap was damaged, the man warned and now humiliated for a kicker. | ||
Boston Blitz (1974) 145: He clipped on a couple of grenades, just for kickers, then got into the topcoat. | ||
Penthouse Apr. 32: For a pledge of just $1,000 you’d get a really nice wood carving. Of course, salvation was thrown in for the kicker [HDAS]. | ||
(trans.) Russian Mirror; Three Plays by Russian Women 10: [...] then for good measure flick me, and what’s more for kickers give me a lecture on morality. |