kickback

[kik-bak] /ˈkɪkˌbæk/
noun
1.
a percentage of income given to a person in a position of power or influence as payment for having made the income possible: usually considered improper or unethical.
2.
a rebate, usually given secretively by a seller to a buyer or to one who influenced the buyer.
3.
the practice of an employer or a person in a supervisory position of taking back a portion of the wages due workers.
4.
a response, usually vigorous.
5.
a sudden, uncontrolled movement of a machine, tool, or other device, as on starting or in striking an obstruction:
A kickback from a chain saw can be dangerous.
Origin
1930-35, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase kick back
Related forms
antikickback, adjective
Examples from the web for kickback
  • Paying professors a dollar per book could be seen as a kind of kickback.
  • Not all countries though have these kickback programs that you speak of as one point.
  • So nine times out of ten, the policeman gets his kickback.
  • Doctor, hospital executive sentenced to prison in kickback.
  • Baseball scouts' honor under fire in kickback scheme in.
British Dictionary definitions for kickback

kickback

/ˈkɪkˌbæk/
noun
1.
a strong reaction
2.
part of an income paid to a person having influence over the size or payment of the income, esp by some illegal arrangement
verb (adverb)
3.
(intransitive) to have a strong reaction
4.
(intransitive) (esp of a gun) to recoil
5.
to pay a kickback to (someone)
Word Origin and History for kickback
n.

also kick-back, c.1900 in various mechanical senses, from kick (v.) + back (adv.). By 1926 in a slang sense of "be forced to return pelf, pay back to victims," which was extended to illegal partial give-backs of government-set wages that were extorted from workers by employers. Hence sense of "illegal or improper payment" (1932).

Slang definitions & phrases for kickback

kickback

noun

Money given to someone illegally or unethically: Buying another poor devil's job for $50 or a kick-back from his pay/ All the cops were on the pad, getting kickbacks from the hookers (1934+)