kick-back

Noun

kickback (countable and uncountable, plural kickbacks)

1. (countable) A backward kick; a retrograde movement of an extremity.
   • Kickbacks work the triceps muscle at the back of your arm. Exercising these muscles helps eliminate arm jiggle.2010, Christina T. Loguidice, Bill Loguidice, Wii Fitness For Dummies
2. (countable, informal) A covert, often illegal, payment in return for a favor consisting of providing an opportunity of chargeable transaction; especially, a kind of quid pro quo in which if you (an insider) secretly help me (an outsider) win the bid for the contract then I will secretly send you a portion of the contract value; thus, a kind of bribe.
   • Central to his [Yury Skuratov's] investigation were kickbacks supposedly paid by a Swiss construction company for contracts to restore government buildings, including both houses of parliament.2018, Oliver Bullough, chapter 4, in Moneyland, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 65
3. (uncountable, machinery) Recoil; a sudden backward motion, usually in the direction of the operator.
4. (countable, machinery) An accident where an object being cut by a rotating blade or disk, such as a circular saw, is caught by the blade and thrown outward.
5. (machinery) An accident wherein the upper tip of the bar of a running chainsaw contacts a relatively immovable object, forcing the bar upwards and pressing the running chain more firmly against the object, causing the saw to be hurled upwards and backwards into the operator's face.
6. (oil industry) A dangerous buildup of gas pressure at the wellhead.

See all 10 meanings of kickback