Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) to return something, such as money or stolen goods, to the original owner.

1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 365: We couldn’t kick back the hock-rock.
1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 10/2: Kick-back – have to return a sucker’s money.
1932		‘Paul Cain’ ‘Black’ in Omnibus (2006) 223: Lowry won a lot of jack in one of ben’s crap game [...] and Ben wanted him to kick back with it - said everybody that worked for him was automatically a shill and couldn’t play for keeps.
1938		D. Runyon ‘A Very Honorable Guy’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 417: Getting dough off of him and not kicking it back.
1940		D. Maurer Big Con 237: They must ‘kick back’ the money which the fixer has already distributed.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 90: The force, under Governor Dever, is so venal that after the city officials voted them a raise the cops had to kick back to their captains.
1966		C. Himes Run Man Run (1969) 22: So I propositioned her if she’d kick back his money and take me on, I’d let her go.
1972		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Whoreson 251: I wasn’t planning on kicking back no six grand.
1997		Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 67: A G-pack of a hundred coke vials, sold on consignment, can make you one thousand dollars, with six hundred kicked back to the supplier.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 308: The Feds kicked back on your prints. The guy’s a 67-year-old white male.

2. to pay a bribe or a commission.

1869		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 3 July 2/3: These managers are supposed to be ‘kicked’ when they arrange for extracting the ‘tip’ from contractors.
1939		P. Di Donato Christ in Concrete 274: Wherever work was obtained they had to ‘kick back’.
1946		(con. 1910s) J. Thompson Heed the Thunder (1994) 13: A man of his word, he scrupulously kicked back a full third of the money he received.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 17: The men who [...] kicked back when they got too hungry to hold out any longer.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 228: Still hooning molls, still kicking back dirty coppers.
2001		(con. late 19C) C. Jeffords Shady Ladies of the Old West 🌐 They [i.e. brothel prostitutes] also kicked back a third of their earnings to the house.
2014		R.J. Martin ‘Pimp Game ’76’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] I asked a one of the girls if she would kick back something if I corralled customers.