quite the kick
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Quite a dandy. The Italians call a dandy a chic. The French chic means knack, as avoir le chic, to have the knack of doing a thing smartly.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “quite the kick” mean?
Quite a dandy. The Italians call a dandy a chic. The French chic means knack, as avoir le chic, to have the knack of doing a thing smartly.
Is “quite the kick” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.