kick one's heels

English

kick one's heels (third-person singular simple present kicks one's heels, present participle kicking one's heels, simple past and past participle kicked one's heels)

(idiomatic) To wait; to wait impatiently or restlessly.
- 1830, The Edinburgh Literary Journal, volume 1, page 231:
  […] whether, in one single instance, any individual has been obliged to kick his heels in the lobby even for one minute, and whether the order was not instantly granted ?
- 1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, Catriona, Dedication: To Charles Baxter:
  It is the fate of sequels to disappoint those who have waited for them; and my David, having been left to kick his heels for more than a lustre in the British Linen Company’s office, must expect his late re-appearance to be greeted with hoots, if not with missiles.
- 1999, Denis Diderot, translated by David Coward, Jacques the Fatalist, page 37:
  […] the older fathers were left to kick their heels in their empty booths, which made them very cross...
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see kick,‎ heels.
The restless boy kicked his heels against the chair legs.

The dancer kicked her heels as high as her shoulders.