Meaning of Idiom ‘Kick Yourself (or oneself)’
To kick yourself (or oneself) is to berate or reproach oneself for some mistake; to be annoyed with yourself, especially because you did something stupid or missed some opportunity, etc., to be disappointed in yourself; to regret doing something or failing to do something. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Heacock, Paul. Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms]. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010.,3Spears, https://amzn.to/2CEGuCz Richard A. McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. McGraw-Hill, 2006.
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Examples Of Use
“I could kick myself for forgetting my shot appointment today!”
“I was kicking myself all day for forgetting my wallet. I didn’t have any money for lunch.”
“If you don’t go to bed early you’ll be kicking yourself tomorrow. Your flight leaves at 6 am.”
“My grandfather had a chance to get in on the ground floor of the biggest donut franchise in the country. Boy did he kick himself later for missing out on that.”
“You’ve been kicking yourself for months and it wasn’t your fault.”
Origin
Used since the late 1800s.
To kick is to strike forcibly with the foot. So, to kick oneself is to mete out a painful punishment to oneself, figuratively speaking.
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