Idiom:  kick to the curb

A woman's foot is kicking a man out the door. The man looks surprised as he flies through the air. "My wife kicked me to the curb when I refused to do any housework."

Meaning 

Idiom:  kick to the curb

  • to discard, dismiss or reject something or someone (especially in a humiliating manner, as if putting garbage out by the curb)

What's a curb?

As you can see in the photo in the left, a curb is the raised stone or concrete edge by the side of the road. When you cross the street, you step up onto the curb to get from the road and onto the sidewalk. 

Residents of homes usually bring their trash to the curb in front of their house so that garbage collectors can easily and quickly put the garbage into the truck.

It's pretty easy to visualize this idiom from the picture above. This idiom talks about kicking someone or something, using their foot, through the air, so that they land at the curb, where unwanted garbage is collected.


Example sentences

— My mother was so tired of my sister's smoking in the house that she actually kicked her to the curb yesterday.

— No one can understand why you won't kick your boyfriend to the curb. He treats you so poorly!

— Can you believe they kicked the accountant to the curb so the Executive Director could hire a friend of his family?

— Vote November 3rd to kick Donald Trump to the curb.

— Either kick your son to the curb or offer him the chance to go to rehab. Otherwise, he'll never stop taking drugs.

— We had to kick our roommate to the curb because her boyfriend basically moved into our place and was a total slob. 

— After going through a 6-week intensive cognitive therapy program, I was finally able to kick binge eating to the curb.

— Help us with a $20 donation so we can kick cancer to the curb.

— We've tried for almost six months to kick the cockroaches in our kitchen to the curb but they keep coming back.

— I really need to kick my fear of flying to the curb. I am missing out on so much in life.

— My husband kicked depression to the curb without taking prescription medication.


Synonyms

  • give someone their marching orders
  • give someone the boot
  • show someone the door
  • take out the trash

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