to kick stiff.—[Taylor: The allusion is to the way in which a slaughtered pig is hung up—viz., by passing the ends of a bent piece of wood behind the tendons of the hind legs, and so suspending it to a hook in a beam above. This piece of wood is locally termed a bucket, and so by a coarse metaphor the phrase came to signify to die. Another says: To commit suicide by hanging; from a method planned and carried out by an ostler at an inn on the Great North Road. Standing on a bucket, he tied himself up to a beam in the stable, he then kicked the bucket.] In West Indies Kickeraboo: see also Kick the wind.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Kicks. He kicked the bucket one day, he died one day.
1796. Wolcot ('Peter Pindar'), Tristia (in Wks. 1812), v. 242. Pitt kicked the bucket.
1797. M. G. Lewis, Castle Spectre, Epilogue. I drew my knife, and in his bosom stuck it; He fell, you clapped—and then he kicked the bucket!
1812. Colman, Poetical Vagaries, p. 55. Near thee doth a bucket dangle. Chieftain, leave me not to drown; Save a maid without a smicket. If the bucket come not down, Soon shall I be doom'd to kick it.
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, xvi. Dat I believe him will eat till him kickeriboo of sorefat (surfeit, I presumed).
1838. Selby, Jacques Strop, i. 1. A narrow escape of kicking the bucket, was it not—eh, you rascal?
1849. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ii. Fine him a pot roared one, for talking about kicking the bucket.
1853. Diogenes, ii. It is inferrible (on account of her great dislike to the detective officer) that she, as well as Lady Dedlock, kicked the bucket.
1858. Notes and Queries, 1 S. ix. 107. (q.v.).
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1867. Jas. Greenwood, Purgatory of Peter the Cruel, i. Tony Warren, with tears in his honest eyes, endeavouring to pour rum down the body's throat, while in kindliest tones he begged of it to look up, or at least make some sign that he had not quite kicked the bucket.
1871. London Figaro, 28 Jan. Yes! I'm going to kick the bucket.
1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, 48. The Ramper fawned on me, and asked me if I had heard of 'that pore bloke wot kicked the bucket upstairs.'
1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, x. I've very little doubt Sir Arthur, selfish pig though he is, will do the right thing in the end before he kicks the bucket.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up, p. 105. Four on them sickened all at once in the camp we had struck, and after they had kicked it, my two mates went with me.
1892. Ally Sloper, 27 Feb., p. 67, col 2. But a miserly aunt kicks the bucket at last And leaves you the fortune which she has amassed.
To kick down the ladder, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To treat with contumely one's means of advancement.
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, viii. She has struggled so violently for polite reputation that she has won it; pitilessly kicking down the ladder, as she advanced, degree by degree.
To kick the clouds (or wind), verb. phr. (thieves').—See quot. For synonyms see Ladder.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Kick the bucket. To kick the clouds before the hotel door, i.e. to be hanged.
To kick at waist, verb. phr. (tailors').—To misfit at the waist.
To kick for the boot, verb. phr. (tailors').—To ask for money.
To kick for trade, verb. phr. (tailors').—To ask work.
To have the kick, verb. phr. (Athletic).—To be lucky; to have cocum (q.v.).—[From football].
