kick the beam

verb

To lack in weight, importance, or strength compared to another.

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Meanings

verbkick the beam (third-person singular simple present kicks the beam, present participle kicking the beam, simple past and past participle kicked the beam)

present singular third person kicks the beam · participle present kicking the beam · participle past kicked the beam · past kicked the beam

  1. archaicidiomaticTo 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1004-1005
    2 more examples

    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)

    To-day she is at war; she has no surplus resources; all her energy is concentrated on herself, and will be until she is ready and equipped for battle. When that happens—when her vast potential energy has been converted into dynamic energy—she will step heavily into that scale of the balance recently vacated by Russia, and Prussian militarism will kick the beam.

    1918 March 27, Ian Hay, “America At War”, in The Times

Origin

Referencing a loaded balance, whose lighter arm would rise up and strike the beam.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

“kick the beam.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick%20the%20beam. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kick the beam,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick%20the%20beam.

Source: kick the beam on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.