kick against something—protest about or oppose smth.:
- They knew life … and it was as useless to kick against the laws of society as to interfere with the laws of nature.
Cf.: kick against the pricks—protest about or oppose smth. without success (harming oneself by doing so):
- Somewhere in our teens or twenties most of us shrug and decide not to “kick against the pricks.”
kick something—strike smth. with the foot:
- Actually, to push didn’t really do it, you kind of had to kick the door to really get it to pop open.