kicking and screaming
Meaning: Very reluctantly, protesting all the way.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The company was dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: The image is of a child being dragged somewhere against its will. The phrase is common from the 20th century; its first use has not been traced.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: À son corps défendant — literally: While defending one's body
More idioms — Body & Senses
- lie through one's teeth — To lie openly and shamelessly.
- put one's feet up — To relax and rest.
- fall into someone's lap — To come to someone without any effort.
- fire in the belly — Strong ambition and drive.
- breathe down someone's neck — To watch someone too closely, or to be close behind them.
- elbow grease — Hard physical work, especially scrubbing or polishing.
More English idioms
- at someone's beck and call — Always ready to obey someone's orders.
- hands down — Easily; without question.
- like a bolt from the blue — Completely unexpected, usually of bad news.
- set one's cap at — To try to attract someone as a romantic partner (dated).
- the big leagues — The highest, most competitive level of an activity.
- rich as Croesus — Extremely wealthy.
From our untranslatable words
- Flemme — A total absence of motivation to do anything — a profound, almost existential reluctance…
- Spleen — A deep, existential ennui — a heavy, formless sadness and disgust with the world and ones…
- Épanouissement — The full flourishing of a person — blooming into your most complete, radiant self. More t…