kick a dog when it's down

present singular third person kicks a dog when it's down · participle present kicking a dog when it's down · participle past kicked a dog when it was down · past kicked a dog when it was down

1. idiomaticTo make things worse for someone in an adverse situation.

   I don't like to kick a dog when he's down, and Earns has had a heap of trouble with his father's death and all

   1919, Jewell Bothwell Tull, “The Phantom Lion of Goodrich Creek”, in South Dakota Educator, volume 33

   1 more example

   but we learned for the first time last Monday night that the Atalantas would kick a dog when he's down. We were beaten ten pins; of course the At-A-lantas (as Spark puts it) will claim one hundred and ten, but the hundred were felled by Miller jumping on the alleys.

   1891, The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, volume 6

   Synonyms: kick someone when they are down