"kick a dog when it's down" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "kicks a dog when it's down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicking a dog when it's down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicked a dog when it was down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicked a dog when it was down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kick<> a dog when it's<it's,it's,it was> down"
      },
      "expansion": "kick a dog when it's down (third-person singular simple present kicks a dog when it's down, present participle kicking a dog when it's down, simple past and past participle kicked a dog when it was down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1891, The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, volume 6",
          "text": "but we learned for the first time last Monday night that the Atalantas would kick a dog when he's down. We were beaten ten pins; of course the At-A-lantas (as Spark puts it) will claim one hundred and ten, but the hundred were felled by Miller jumping on the alleys.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Jewell Bothwell Tull, “The Phantom Lion of Goodrich Creek”, in South Dakota Educator, volume 33",
          "text": "I don't like to kick a dog when he's down, and Earns has had a heap of trouble with his father's death and all",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make things worse for someone in an adverse situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-kick_a_dog_when_it's_down-en-verb-e~3ujtpC",
      "links": [
        [
          "adverse",
          "adverse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To make things worse for someone in an adverse situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "kick a dog when it's down"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "kicks a dog when it's down",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicking a dog when it's down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicked a dog when it was down",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "kicked a dog when it was down",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "kick<> a dog when it's<it's,it's,it was> down"
      },
      "expansion": "kick a dog when it's down (third-person singular simple present kicks a dog when it's down, present participle kicking a dog when it's down, simple past and past participle kicked a dog when it was down)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with placeholder \"it\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1891, The Wheel and Cycling Trade Review, volume 6",
          "text": "but we learned for the first time last Monday night that the Atalantas would kick a dog when he's down. We were beaten ten pins; of course the At-A-lantas (as Spark puts it) will claim one hundred and ten, but the hundred were felled by Miller jumping on the alleys.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1919, Jewell Bothwell Tull, “The Phantom Lion of Goodrich Creek”, in South Dakota Educator, volume 33",
          "text": "I don't like to kick a dog when he's down, and Earns has had a heap of trouble with his father's death and all",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To make things worse for someone in an adverse situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "adverse",
          "adverse"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To make things worse for someone in an adverse situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "kick a dog when it's down"
}