Kick-up

[f. the phr. kick up: see KICK v.¹ 9.]

  1.  The act of lifting the legs in, or as in, kicking.

1861.  Dickens, Gt. Expect., iii. With a kick-up of his hind-legs and a flourish of his tail.

1882.  Besant, All Sorts, xxx. (1884), 210. You used to sing … at the Canterbury, with a character dance and a topical song and a kick-up at the finish.

  2.  A violent disturbance or row; a great to-do.

a. 1793.  J. Hunter, in Jeaffreson, Bk. ab. Doctors, xxiii. (1862), 257. I knew nothing of this kick-up, and I ought to have been informed of it beforehand.

1812.  Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 246. No chance of a kick-up, or row being plann’d.

1877.  Besant & Rice, With Harp and Crown, iv. 33. Who stood between you and my lady when you had the kick-up?

  3.  A name given in Jamaica to two species of thrush, Siurus noveboracensis (Bessy Kick-up), and Siurus aurocapillus (Land Kick-up).

1847.  Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, 151. When walking or standing, the tail is continually flirted up in the manner of the Wagtails, whence the local name of Kick-up. Ibid., 152. Land Kick-up … His manners are much like those of his cousin Bessy.