Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. sixpence; thus two-and-a-kick, half-a-crown (25p).

1725		Life and Glorious Actions of [...] Jonathan Wilde 25: These bottles of Wine [...] are sold for two Bords per Bottle, viz. Two Shillings per Bottle; and sometimes for two Bords and a Kick, viz. Two Shillings and Six pence.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: A kick; sixpence. Two and a kick; half-a-crown.
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry III iii: tom: Now then, what’s to pay, Landlord? mace: All out, vill be fourteen bob and a kick, your honour.
1834		(con. 1737–9) W.H. Ainsworth Rookwood (1857) 231: One quid, two coach-wheels, half a bull, three hogs, and a kick.
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 67: Vhy I arnt made above five bob and a kick – and a few browns.
1857		advert in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue (1857) 45: Pair of Broad Cord ditto, made very saucy, 9 bob and a kick.
1866		Wild Boys of London I 10/1: ‘Two and a kick,’ responded Bright. ‘Will that be enough?’.
1871		Echo 15 May n.p.: ‘What do you mean by telling me that you will take it away for a kick?’ ‘Wot I say; I’ll do the job for sixpence’ [F&H].
1881		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 18 July 2/6: For our next coin in value twenty names are found, viz: - ‘sixpence,’ ‘bandy,’ ‘broder,’ ‘cripple.’ ‘downer,’ ‘fiddler.’ ‘fyebuck,’ ‘half-hog,’ ‘kick,’ ‘lord of the manor,’ ‘pig,’ ‘pot,’ ‘say saltee,' ’sprat,’ ‘snid,’ ‘simon,’ ‘sow's baby,’ ’tanner,’ tester,’ and ‘tizzy’.
1885		Globe 29 Dec. 6/2: ‘I always buys my boots [...] for two and a kick’.
1898		Blackburn Wkly Standard 3 Dec. 10/2: Defendant : He says ‘All right; tip us me five and a kick I’ve earned, and we’ll cry quits’.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 3 Aug. 691: The fifty-pounder is the only prize I’d care a kick for.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 133: So they made it one an’ a kick an’ not dear neither.
1922		Dundee Eve. Teleg. 19 July 2/4: Sixpence is a popular coin in slangdom [...] ‘half-a-hog,’ ‘kick,’ (thus two and a ‘kick’ 2s 6d)‘lord of the manor,’ ‘pig,’ ‘pot,’ ‘snid,’ ‘sow’s baby’.
1925		Western Mail (Perth) 28 May 21/1: [from Daily Mail, London] Twenty or thirty years ago a sixpenny bit used still to be known as a kick or a bender.
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 231: I could do it for four and a kick, Mr O’Faoláin, but it wouldn’t be a job.
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 175: Sixpence is a ‘kick’.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 25: That’ll be seven and a kick [...] Night club charges.
1976		H. Leonard Time Was (1981) Act I: It’s all there ... eight and a kick.

2. money in one’s possession.

1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 86: We’re pleanty strong in the kick, an’ me an’ you’ll go buy tings fur youse.
1935		J. O’Hara Butterfield 8 233: He had $23 and some change, he didn’t know how much, in his kick right now.
1947		implied in get some kick