kicker

/kik"euhr/, n.

1. a person or thing that kicks.

2. Informal.

a. a disadvantageous point or circumstance, usually concealed or unnoticed: The tickets are free, but the kicker is that you have to wait in line for hours to get them.

b. a surprising change or turn of events: The kicker was that their friends knew it before they did.

3. something extra, as an additional cost or gain; an added expense or financial incentive.

4. Draw Poker. a card, usually an ace or face card, held with a pair or three of a kind in the hope of drawing a matching card.

5. (in concrete construction) a low plinth at the base of a column.

6. kickers, Slang. shoes, esp. leisure shoes.

7. Naut.

a. a small, low-powered outboard motor.

b. an auxiliary engine on a sailing vessel, river steamer, etc.

8. Slang. the alcoholic liquor in a mixed drink.

9. Also called eyebrow, highline, overline, teaser. Print., Journalism. a short line of copy set in a distinctive type above a headline and intended to call attention to it.

10. Metall. a charge of high-carbon iron that produces a vigorous boil when charged into an open-hearth furnace containing slag and molten metal of lower carbon content.

11. Also called kicker light. Photog. a light source coming from the back and side of a subject and producing a highlight.

[1565-75; KICK + -ER¹]

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