kicking and screaming

kicking and screaming

A phrase used to describe someone who has been forced (to go somewhere or do something) with extreme reluctance, especially despite lengthy or vehement protests. Often used in the phrase "dragged kicking and screaming." I really thought Mike would be perfect for the job, but he had to be dragged kicking and screaming into an interview for it. When we were kids, we were dragged kicking and screaming to our grandparents' boring old house every summer for two weeks.
See also: and, kick, scream
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

kicking and screaming

protesting vociferously, especially against being forced to accept innovations. informal
2004 Gramophone Magazine Some say he [ Pierre Boulez ] dragged the Philharmonic's generally conservative audience kicking and screaming into the harsh light of modernism.
See also: and, kick, scream
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • eggs is eggs
  • how about
  • how/what about...?
  • from my cold, dead hands
  • (one's) best foot forward
  • best foot forward
  • How long is a piece of string?
  • (as) sure as eggs (is eggs)
  • sure as eggs is eggs
  • open sesame
References in periodicals archive
He said: "We've got to shake ourselves up and I've got to drag them through kicking and screaming.
Arc, Stockton will host performances of brand new energetic play Kicking And Screaming which takes a sideways look at how we cope with our children - and how our parents coped with us.
KICKING and Screaming is a new play about parenthood which is to tour the region during March.
HONG KONG, 05 Ramadan, 1435,02 July, 2014, SPA - - Hundreds of Hong Kong police forcibly removed kicking and screaming protesters from the Central business district on Wednesday, holdouts of a mass rally demanding greater democracy from Communist Party rulers in Beijing, Reuters reported.
Kicking and Screaming is about the Competitive Dad syndrome with Ferrell, right, brought up by his competitive
I imagine that process will go something like this: The Republicans will fiercely resist any talk about it, while the 'pragmatic' Democrats, ever on the lookout for an opportunity to look tough, will drag them kicking and screaming into dat dere brier patch."
CRYSTAL PALACE ..3 TOTTENHAM ..0 IAIN DOWIE said Palace would have to be dragged down 'kicking and screaming' after watching his side keep themselves out of the Premiership bottom three.
"Outing is back," declared an article in the San Francisco Chronicle--that controversial practice from the 1980's whereby famous gay people would be dragged out of the closet kicking and screaming by some pissed-off gay journalist or ACT-UP member.
Children often respond to the requests of an adult with the question: "Why should I?" Often, adults respond, "Because I said so!," which then is followed by the adult taking charge of the situation and the children following kicking and screaming.
In short, l'affaire Glasco has brought the Canadian arts community kicking and screaming into the corporate world of the twenty-first century.
Not only does our president drag us, kicking and screaming, into the world of Hillary and Chelsea and Buddy and Socks, his official acts are what prompted this whole "private" mess.
Then, they make a decision to drag themselves kicking and screaming into the thirteenth century by declaring 51 percent of the population subservient to the other 49 percent.
BY BRENDAN MCLOUGHLIN GARY ROWETT is vowing to drag Stoke's players "kicking and screaming" out of their downward spiral.