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a percentage of income given to a person in a position of power or influence as payment for having made the income possible: usually considered improper or unethical.
a rebate, usually given secretively by a seller to a buyer or to one who influenced the buyer.
the practice of an employer or a person in a supervisory position of taking back a portion of the wages due workers.
a response, usually vigorous.
a sudden, uncontrolled movement of a machine, tool, or other device, as on starting or in striking an obstruction:
A kickback from a chain saw can be dangerous.
Contemporary Examples

Another Russian word the actor might learn, the commenters proposed, was raspilit, or “kickback.”
Gérard Depardieu After Receiving Russian Citizenship: I Love Putin! Anna Nemtsova January 3, 2013

Then Mubarak and his family and their allies would see benefits in return, presumably some kickback or a share of the profits.
Hunting Mubarak’s Millions Philip Shenon April 17, 2011

My question to the government is this: What constitutes a modern-day bribe or kickback?
More Enrons on the Way Sherron Watkins June 28, 2010

Meanwhile, he earned the nickname “Mr. Ten Percent” for the kickback he purportedly took on government contracts.
The Playboy Running Pakistan Nicholas Schmidle April 29, 2009

Is a perpetrator off the hook because he or she uses the market to pay the kickback?
More Enrons on the Way Sherron Watkins June 28, 2010

Historical Examples

The “kickback” would have certainly killed or wounded us both.
The Red Watch J. A. Currie

The nerves of Average Jones gave a sharp “kickback,” like a mis-cranked motor-car.
Average Jones Samuel Hopkins Adams

I want to set down what happened in case there’s ever a kickback although I don’t think there ever will be.
The Beasts in the Void Paul W. Fairman

noun
a strong reaction
part of an income paid to a person having influence over the size or payment of the income, esp by some illegal arrangement
verb (adverb)
(intransitive) to have a strong reaction
(intransitive) (esp of a gun) to recoil
to pay a kickback to (someone)
n.

also kick-back, c.1900 in various mechanical senses, from kick (v.) + back (adv.). By 1926 in a slang sense of “be forced to return pelf, pay back to victims,” which was extended to illegal partial give-backs of government-set wages that were extorted from workers by employers. Hence sense of “illegal or improper payment” (1932).

noun

Money given to someone illegally or unethically: Buying another poor devil’s job for $50 or a kick-back from his pay/ All the cops were on the pad, getting kickbacks from the hookers (1934+)