kick off

Verb

kick off (third-person singular simple present kicks off, present participle kicking off, simple past and past participle kicked off)

1. (ambitransitive) To make the first kick in a game or part of a game.
   • The players kick off for the third quarter and the clock starts.
2. (ambitransitive, idiomatic) To start; to launch; to set in motion.
   • Let's kick off this project with a planning meeting.
   • The project kicked off with an energy-sapping meeting.

   Synonyms:

   start off

3. (transitive) To dismiss; to expel; to remove from a position.
   • I got kicked off the team after a string of poor performances
4. (US, colloquial, euphemistic, idiomatic, intransitive) To die or quit permanently.
   • It's a wonder that old dog hasn't kicked off yet.
5. (US, idiomatic, intransitive) To shut down or turn off suddenly.
   • The washer was working fine until it kicked off in the middle of a cycle.
   • The circuit breaker, a power failure, and the e-stop button are the only things we can think of that might have caused that pump to kick off when it did.
6. (idiomatic, intransitive) To suddenly become more active.
   • The party kicked off when the third bottle of wine was opened.
   • I understood that I was missing out on a lot of his life and if the war really kicked off I was going to be gone for an even longer amount of time.2007, Robert Ortiz, A Walking Distance, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 177
7. (US, idiomatic, slang, transitive, ranching) To force the weaning of a bovine cow's calf by restricting the calf's access to its mother's udders, whether by literally kicking it away or another method.
   • A week after we kicked off her calf that cow was still bawling.
8. (UK, colloquial, idiomatic, intransitive) To be overcome with anger, to start an argument or a fight; to behave aggressively.
   • When she called him a drunk, it was the last straw. He just kicked off.
   • The chap opposite seems to be trying to pull a fast one, and having seen the guard is trying to buy a ticket online... but doesn't succeed. The guard helpfully sells him one, but not quite at the price of one purchased in advance. In fairness he doesn't kick off, nor does the guard treat him like...2024 April 17, “Rural railways: do they deliver?”, in RAIL, number 1007, page 57
9. (colloquial, idiomatic, impersonal, intransitive) To have a fight or argument start; to fight or argue.
   • It really kicked off in town when the team lost.
   • Suddenly it all kicked off on the terraces as horrendous violence and disgraceful scenes were picked up by television cameras.2010, Kenny Sansom, To Cap It All, John Blake Publishing, →ISBN