kick in the seat of the pants

kick in the seat of the pants

1. A humiliating or frustrating disappointment or setback. Losing my job after my car broke down was a real kick in the seat of the pants.

2. A forceful rebuke or incitement intended to motivate one to act or improve. The real kick in the seat of the pants was when my mother told me she was disappointed in me—that's when I knew I needed to change. The coach gave the team a kick in the seat of the pants at half-time with a rousing speech.

See also: kick, of, pant, seat

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

kick in the (seat of the) pants

and kick in the ass and kick in the butt and kick in the teeth and kick in the rear

n. a strong message of encouragement or a demand. (Usually objectionable.) All he needs is a kick in the seat of the pants to get him going. A kick in the teeth ought to wake them up and get them moving.

See also: kick, of, pant, seat

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

kick in the (seat of the) pants, a

A reproof or reprimand; also, a goad or spur to get someone moving. Both can be literal or figurative. The idea must be very old indeed, and the expression, a euphemism for a kick in the posterior, appeared in Samuel Butler’s Hudibras (1663). A more recent term with the same meaning as the first sense is a kick in the teeth, used from the mid-twentieth century on.

See also: kick, of

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer