kick the beam
kick the beam verb: to lack in weight, importance, or strength compared to another.
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Verb
kick the beam (third-person singular simple present kicks the beam, present participle kicking the beam, simple past and past participle kicked the beam)
- To lack in weight, importance, or strength compared to another.
- The latter quick up flew, and kick'd the beam; / Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- Is the dollar only real? God and truth and right a dream?
Weighed against your lying ledgers must our manhood kick the beam?1846, John Greenleaf Whittier, The Pine-Tree (poem)
Forms of kick the beam
| third-person singular present | kicks the beam |
|---|---|
| present participle | kicking the beam |
| past participle | kicked the beam |
| past | kicked the beam |
Origin of kick the beam
Referencing a loaded balance, whose lighter arm would rise up and strike the beam.
Questions about kick the beam
- What does kick the beam mean?
- Kick the beam means to lack in weight, importance, or strength compared to another.
- What part of speech is kick the beam?
- Kick the beam is a verb.
- What is the past tense of kick the beam?
- The past tense of kick the beam is kicked the beam.
Words near kick the beam in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kick the beam (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “kick the beam.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kick_the_beam. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.