kick up

verb kicks up · kicking up · kicked up

1. of a horse To rear back; to become more active or restless; to speed up.
2. US, broadly, figuratively, informal, transitive To raise, to increase (a price). The rent has been kicked up again.
3. figuratively, informal, transitive To stir up (trouble), to cause (a disturbance). In truth, these little men were so far out of the reach of their masters, that they considered themselves as little less than immortal, and often kicked up a dust for the sole purpose of showing their authority.
4. colloquial, transitive To make more exciting. kick it up a notch
5. informal, intransitive To show anger (about something). He kicked up about it when they told him the train had been cancelled.
6. US, informal, intransitive To function improperly; to show signs of disorder; (of an illness) to flare up. The car is kicking up.
7. To move sharply upward. See, that rod there is supposed to kick up to engage the gear.
8. slang To pass (something, such as a proposal or a share of a bribe) up a hierarchy or chain of command. You have to kick up some money to the boss.

   Similar: run up the flagpole

9. intransitive, transitive Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see kick, up. You could tell where he had been by the cloud of dust he had kicked up.