kick off

kick off (third-person singular simple present kicks off, present participle kicking off, simple past and past participle kicked off)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make the first kick in a game or part of a game.

   The players kick off for the third quarter and the clock starts.

2. (idiomatic, transitive, intransitive) To start; to launch.

   Let's kick off this project with a planning meeting.

   • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)

     Not since Coventry in 1992 has a Premier League side kicked off a campaign with an all-English XI but things have reached the point where, of the 61 signings who have cost the elite division's 20 clubs a transfer fee this summer, only 12 have involved Englishmen.

3. To dismiss; to expel; to remove from a position.

   I got kicked off the team after a string of poor performances

4. (idiomatic, colloquial, euphemistic) To die or quit permanently.

   It's a wonder that old dog hasn't kicked off yet.

5. (idiomatic) To shut down or turn off suddenly.

   The washer was working fine until it kicked off in the middle of a cycle.

6. (idiomatic) To suddenly become more active.

   The party kicked off when the third bottle of wine was opened.

   • 2007, Robert Ortiz, A Walking Distance, AuthorHouse →ISBN, page 177

     I understood that I was missing out on a lot of his life and if the war really kicked off I was going to be gone for an even longer amount of time.

7. (US, idiomatic, ranching, slang) To force the weaning of a bovine cow's calf by restricting the calf's access to its mother's udders. Used figuratively or literally.

   A week after we kicked off her calf that cow was still bawling.

8. (Britain, idiomatic, colloquial) To be overcome with anger, to start an argument or a fight.

   When she called him a drunk, it was the last straw. He just kicked off.

9. (Britain, idiomatic, colloquial, impersonal) To have a fight or argument start.

   It really kicked off in town when the team lost.

   • 2010, Kenny Sansom, To Cap It All, John Blake Publishing →ISBN

     Suddenly it all kicked off on the terraces as horrendous violence and disgraceful scenes were picked up by television cameras.