kick ass and take names

verb

To beat someone in a competition, fight, or other situation.

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Meanings

verbkick ass and take names (third-person singular simple present kicks ass and takes names, present participle kicking ass and taking names, simple past kicked ass and took names, past participle kicked ass and taken names)

present singular third person kicks ass and takes names · participle present kicking ass and taking names · past kicked ass and took names · participle past kicked ass and taken names

  1. CanadaUScolloquialidiomaticvulgarTo beat someone in a competition, fight, or other situation.

    We kick ass and take names and call muster.

    1987, Pat Conroy, The Lords of Discipline, page 394
    2 more examples

    Hell, I thought, if I were wearing that star, I'd kick ass and take names and have this place turned upside down in a week.

    1990, David H. Hackworth, Julie Sherman, About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, page 217

    “Fitz,” Assistant Director Roy McKinnon said the day he summoned me to his office at headquarters in Washington in late 1980, “we need an Irishman to go to Boston to kick ass and take names.”

    2012, Robert Fitzpatrick, Betrayal, page 17
Cite this entry
APA

kick ass and take names. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick%20ass%20and%20take%20names

MLA

“kick ass and take names.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick%20ass%20and%20take%20names. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kick ass and take names,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick%20ass%20and%20take%20names.

Source: kick ass and take names on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.