kick upstairs vs assign

kick upstairs and assign both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
kick upstairs	No	No	Yes	No
assign	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, assign is a hypernym of kick upstairs; that is, assign is a word with a broader meaning than kick upstairs:

kick upstairs: give a promotion to or assign to a higher position
assign: give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person)

Other hypernyms of kick upstairs include delegate, depute, designate.

kick upstairs (verb)	assign (verb)
give a promotion to or assign to a higher position	select something or someone for a specific purpose
	attribute or credit to
	decide as to where something belongs in a scheme
	attribute or give
	transfer one's right to
	give out
	make undue claims to having
	give an assignment to (a person) to a post, or assign a task to (a person)