kick around

See also: kickaround

English

kick around (plural kick arounds)

informal game

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

To abuse or mistreat; to bully; to be rough with.
Don't be afraid to kick it around a little. It is sturdy.
- 1962 November 7, Richard Nixon, “Richard Nixon's November 1962 Press Conference”, in Richard Nixon Foundation‎^[1]:
  I leave you gentlemen now, and you will write it. You will interpret. That’s your right. But as I leave you I want you to know—just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference, and it will be the one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you. […]
(usually in the present continuous) To wander loose; to float around; to hang around; to exist; to remain unexploited or unused.
Is this your pen I found kicking around in my drawer?
- 1973 March 1, Roger Waters (lyrics and music), “Time”, in The Dark Side of the Moon, performed by Pink Floyd:
  Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
(of an idea or proposal) To discuss informally; to consider or distribute.
to kick around ideas
- 2023 October 19, Brendan I. Koerner, “Watch This Guy Work, and You’ll Finally Understand the TikTok Era”, in Wired‎^[2], →ISSN:
  They kicked around some ideas for doing their own thing, like moonlighting as music video producers, but they never followed through.

to mistreat

to wander loose