kick the beam

Referencing a loaded balance, whose lighter arm would rise up and strike the beam.

• "The latter quick up flew, and kick'd the beam; / Which Gabriel spying, thus bespake the Fiend."
• "Is the dollar only real? God and truth and right a dream? Weighed against your lying ledgers must our manhood kick the beam?"
• "To-day she is at war; she has no surplus resources; all her energy is concentrated on herself, and will be until she is ready and equipped for battle. When that happens—when her vast potential energy has been converted into dynamic energy—she will step heavily into that scale of the balance recently vacated by Russia, and Prussian militarism will kick the beam."