OK Pedants, who knows this?

[NoBiggy]

"Kick in"

Where does that come from?

Antibiotics, by all accounts, take a couple of days to "kick in".

If you have a drink, you can feel it "kick in".

Where would "kick in" be used in the literal sense?

football?

It should be football, but don't they always throw rather than kick in?

According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable it menas "To pay one's share; to make one's contribution"

Have I just "kicked in"?

sorry - that is the extent of my football knowledge.

Ah! Rugby!

ahem *means

It's used in the sense that there's a lag between cause and effect, so I'm trying to think of something that would do that...

Or even something that starts with a kick. I thought motorbike, but that doesn't seem to work.

Winestein, I wouldn't have guessed that.

I must attend to a bottom, I'll be back.

I'd have thought it's more like in 'I get no kick from champagne' - so a physical jolt you get (like a kick) when something starts working?

Kick in the balls?

"I must attend to a bottom".

I love that phrase... I think I'm going to try to fit it into "outside of childcare" conversation.

I wondered about this

and it being a shortening thereof perhaps

As in,

'When is this stuff gonna kick me in the head?'

shortened to 'kick in'
iyswim

Just found a website called 'audioenglish.net'. It doesn't really explain where it comes from but just so we all know the correct usage, and a little more...:

KICK IN
Pronunciation (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does kick in mean?

? KICK IN (verb)
The verb KICK IN has 3 senses:

1. enter a particular state
2. contribute to some cause
3. open violently

Familiarity information: KICK IN used as a verb is uncommon.

Dictionary entry details
? KICK IN (verb)

Sense 1 kick in [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Enter a particular state

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

kick in; set in

Context examples:

Laziness set in / After a few moments, the effects of the drug kicked in

Hypernyms (to "kick in" is one way to...):

begin; start (have a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2 kick in [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Contribute to some cause

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

chip in; contribute; kick in; give

Context example:

I gave at the office

Hypernyms (to "kick in" is one way to...):

give (transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "kick in"):

combine (add together from different sources)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sense 3 kick in [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Open violently

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

kick down; kick in

Context example:

kick in the doors

Hypernyms (to "kick in" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Learn English with... Proverbs of the week

"Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon, lead at night." (English proverb)

"You will not get a big job done from whom does not want a small one." (Albanian proverb)

"Every ambitious man is a captive and every covetous one a pauper." (Arabic proverb)

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." (Corsican proverb)

Oh - didn't realise it was that long. Do I win some sort of prize?

Thanks, lovely work there

So I think I can see "kick in" like "chip in". You take your tablets, a couple of days later you feel their contribution.

It sounds as if it should be more dramatic - I was imagining there was some fast, physical activity it was being compared to.