Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) to beat someone up, to fight, also fig. use.

1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 78: I’m so tired of kickin’ asses I just think I’ll start crushing skulls.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 274: He’s just gon have to kick my ass, or I’m gon have to kick his ass.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 165: I wanted to kick the bitch’s ass.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 16: He still kicks behinds like a crazy gorilla. [Ibid.] 103: It’s time for revenge. It’s time for a little justice... It’s time, in other words, to kick A.
1988		NWA ‘Fuck Tha Police’ 🎵 Maybe it’s because I kick so much butt / I kick ass.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 141: The Dolphins got their asses kicked.
1997		Bug (Aus.) 1 Oct. 🌐 But the workers’ town of Newcastle decided to throw a spanner into what passes for Howard’s works by deciding to kick, rather than lick, arse.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We have No 337: No point in beating about the bush – Odin kicks ass.
2001		(con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 81: ‘I’m gettin’ my ass kicked for the simple fact I’m disobeyin’ you’.
2004		(con. 1960s-70s) T. Taylor Top Fellas 63/2: [Bruce Lee] could really go in the arse-kicking department.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 99: All of which basically translates as, kick orse!
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 8: The next rule I found confusing was, ‘Use of force.’ That is right to kick ass rule.
2014		T. Richardson ‘The Proxy’ in ThugLit Sept. [ebook] ‘A butt-kicking?’ [...] ‘A little more than that. Like lyin’ in bed for a few weeks kind of punishment’.
2021		C. Hammer Opal Country 336: ‘So that’s why you became a copper. So you could kick arse’.

2. (US campus) to have a good, if boisterous, time.

1970–2		G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ AS L (1975) 62: Kicking ass n Wild time.
1999		Indep Rev 20 Oct. 5: And then they got up and kicked ass. They laughed loudly, and talked dirty and panted passionately and raged rudely and refused, quite simply, to become objects of pity or derision.

3. (orig. US campus) to do well; to make a committed effort; to discipline.

1978		R. Charles Brother Ray 88: Yes, by 1948 and 1949, I had my program together and was ready to kick some ass.
1981		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 4: kick ass – work hard.
1984		G. Tate – ‘Stagolee Versus the Proper Negro’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 53: Prince done stormed the white castle [...] he came, he saw, he kicked ass.
1990		T. Pluto Loose Balls 147: I felt that the team was [...] good enough to win a lot of games in the ABA. But someone had to take control and that meant kicking some butt.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 17: Kickin’ ass or kick ass: Do very well. [Ibid.] 17: Kicks butt: Something found to be good or makes a person excited.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 76: She kicked ass. Four fights and four kayos, two coming in the first minute of the first round.
2001		Indep. Rev. 22 Oct. 4: I’ve been kicking butt in this town for seven years – trying to make it as a journalist.
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 232: It’s arse-kicking we need, not grass-kicking.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Totally kicking arse until we got into a fight with that bikie over the two shot rule’.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] It’s nice to see a stripper really kicking some arse, you know.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 78: I kicked assiduous ass all morning.