kicker

noun21

1. •
   One who kicks.
2. •
   One who takes kicks.
3. •
   A placekicker: a player who kicks the football during free kicks, kick offs, field goals, and extra point tries.
4. •
   A practitioner of the kicking performance art.
5. •
   (informal) An unexpected situation, detail or circumstance, often unpleasant, serving as a punchline or clincher.

   • John wants to climb the wall, but the kicker is that it is thirty feet tall.
   • Tuition is free; the kicker is that mandatory room and board costs twice as much as at other colleges.
6. •
   An unpaired card which is part of a pair, two pair, or three of a kind poker hand.

   • Jill's hand was two pair, aces and sevens, with a king kicker.
7. •
   (informal) An outboard motor.
8. •
   Small text above a headline that indicates the topic of the story.

   • Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines. — 1981
9. •
   Synonym of lead-in (“start of photo caption”).
10. •
    The last one or two paragraphs of a story.
11. •
    A lighthearted or humorous item used to round off a news broadcast.

    • […] international news and politics, and heavy on the light stuff: local news, entertainment and merry little kickers […] — 1984
12. •
    A launch ramp.
13. •
    An enticement for investors, e.g. warranty added to the investment contract.
14. •
    (informal) A relaxed party.
15. •
    (Southern-US, slang) A particular type of Texan who is associated with country/western attire, attitudes, and/or philosophy.
16. •
    A backlight positioned at an angle.
17. •
    The kicking strap.
18. •
    A rubber pad that propels the ball away upon impact, like a bumper, but usually a horizontal side of a wall.
19. •
    A device that periodically displaces a newspaper from the print production line, to aid in gathering the newspapers into fixed-size bundles.

    • In a printing machine, the combination of a kicker mechanism for displacing a newspaper […] — 1931
20. •
    (slang) The fermenting mass of fruit that is the basis of pruno, or "prison wine".
21. •
    (slang, no longer used) A complainer.