Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sharp reaction; a repercussion.
  • noun Slang A return of a percentage of a sum of money already received, typically as a result of pressure, coercion, or a secret agreement.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To recoil; -- of guns and machines.
  • transitive verb To pay (a kickback).
  • noun recoil, of a gun or machine, as in older automobile engines when started by turning a crank.
  • noun A secret, and usually illegal, payment, by a recipient of money paid for goods or services, to a facilitator of the transaction, of a portion of that money

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable A clandestine payment in return for a favor; especially an illegal one
  • noun uncountable, firearms, machinery Recoil; a sudden backward motion, usually in the direction of the operator.
  • noun countable, machinery An accident wherein an object being cut by a rotating blade or disk, such as a circular saw, is caught by the blade and thrown outward
  • noun oil industry A dangerous buildup of gas pressure at the wellhead
  • noun countable, bowling The board separating one bowling lane from another at the pit end
  • noun uncountable, bridge In contract bridge, an ace asking convention initiated by the first step above four of the agreed trump suit.
  • noun pinball A feature that saves the ball from draining and propels it back into play.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a commercial bribe paid by a seller to a purchasing agent in order to induce the agent to enter into the transaction
  • verb pay a kickback; make an illegal payment
  • verb spring back, as from a forceful thrust

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

kick +‎ back.

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Examples

  • On Chanel 5 News in Phoenix they showed where a Doctor received a $53,000 kickback from the Libby Drug Company.

    Liberal Dems 'stand in strong opposition' to Sebelius statement 2009

  • It seems to require kickback from a speedy bullet to work the strong spring of the bolt.

    What's the Best Survival Weapon? 2009

  • I'm glad that some other people (apart from me) are starting to look positively towards this film, and believe me I'm not doing this for any publicity or kickback from the studio, I really am looking forward to it.

    Filmstalker: More Miami Vice pictures online 2006

  • The kickback is a benefit, sure, but wasn’t the motivating force behind the pieces.

    Amazon Super-Sale on Comic Hardcovers: The Aftermath » Comics Worth Reading 2010

  • “The corps commander gets a kickback from the real-estate developer,” she said, and then “distributes the plots to lower-ranking officers [at government-subsidized prices], and sells what’s left to civilians at a huge profit.”

    After Musharraf 2007

  • “The corps commander gets a kickback from the real-estate developer,” she said, and then “distributes the plots to lower-ranking officers [at government-subsidized prices], and sells what’s left to civilians at a huge profit.”

    After Musharraf 2007

  • How much of a kickback are the Dumbocrats getting from the insuranbce companies?

    LIVE Blog: House OKs 'fixes' for health care law 2010

  • Consumers weren't told that the foreclosure processors charged lawyers filing the paperwork against them a $125 fee for accessing their computer database, which Nevada calls a "kickback" but LPS characterizes as an "administrative fee."

    Forbes.com: News Daniel Fisher 2012

  • If you privatize education, your cronies have guaranteed income for 12 years, and your kickback will be a lobbying job for 7 figures a years later.

    Crooks and Liars karoli 2011

  • "That keeps the tree from shooting back, which is called kickback," he explains.

    Thestar.com - Home Page Emily Mathieu 2010

Comments

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  • Sense that's related to "hangout" or "party"— social gathering.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/05/social-distancing-instagram-shame-secrets/611842/

    Julia Byrd, a 22-year-old who lives in Roanoke, Virginia, has been going to gatherings of about 10 people with her boyfriend and his fraternity brothers, she told me. “I would find myself posting videos and then deleting them off of my Snapchat story, because I was like, Oh man, people are going to judge me,” she said. She’s pretty sure that her friends are judging her anyway, as they’ve been subtweeting her. “They’re like, ‘If you’re still going to kickbacks, this is for you,’ and it’s videos on how fast viruses spread, or some meme.”

    May 19, 2020