kickback

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
   • You sell cars and help arrange car insurance for buyers. Insurance brokers pay back part of their commissions to you for referring customers to them. You must include the kickbacks in your income.2021 February 11, “Publication 17 (2020), Your Federal Income Tax”, in irs.gov, Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 24 Aug 2021, Kickbacks
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.
7. (countable) The board separating one bowling lane from another at the pit end.
8. (uncountable) In contract bridge, an ace asking convention initiated by the first step above four of the agreed trump suit.
9. (pinball) A feature that saves the ball from draining and propels it back into play.
   • We've come a long way since then. The progeny of that nail have been bent and twisted into what we all know and love as roll overs, kickbacks, and thumper-bumpers.1973, Doug Anderson, “Pinball Wizard”, in Texas Monthly, volume 1, number 7, August 1973, page 84
10. A relaxed party.

    Synonyms:

    kicker