kick up your heels

Meanings

1. 1phraseidiominformal

   to relax and enjoy yourself, especially after working hard

   Grammar: Fixed phrase; the pronoun changes with the subject: 'kick up my heels', 'kick up his heels', etc. It is intransitive.

   Patterns

   • kick up your heels
   • kick up your heels at something
   • ready to kick up your heels

   After finishing the project, we went out to kick up our heels at a local bar.

   She works hard all week, but on weekends she likes to kick up her heels.

   The team was ready to kick up their heels after winning the championship.

2. 2phraseidiominformal

   to celebrate in a lively, energetic way, often by dancing or partying

   Grammar: Same fixed phrase; the context makes it clear whether it means relaxing or celebrating noisily.

   Patterns

   • kick up your heels at a party
   • kick up your heels on the dance floor

   The wedding guests kicked up their heels until the early hours.

   When the exam results came out, the students kicked up their heels all night.

Common combinations

kick up your heels at

They kicked up their heels at the office party.

ready to kick up your heels

After a long week, I'm ready to kick up my heels.

kick up your heels on the dance floor

The couple kicked up their heels on the dance floor.

time to kick up your heels

Now that the work is done, it's time to kick up your heels.

Synonyms and how they differ

let your hair down

Very similar meaning of relaxing and enjoying yourself, but it emphasizes abandoning restraint rather than energetic celebration.

celebrate

More neutral and general; 'kick up your heels' is informal and suggests lively, physical fun.

Word family

heel noun

the back part of the foot or shoe; used in this idiom.

Commonly confused: kick up your heels or kick your heels?

Practice

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Write a sentence using “kick up your heels”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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