1
general::
Phrase(s): pass the buck
Fig. to pass the blame (to someone else); to give the responsibility (to someone else). (See also The buck stops here.) • Don’t try to pass the buck! It’s your fault, and everybody knows it. • Some people try to pass the buck whenever they can.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
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Shift responsibility or blame elsewhere, as in She's always passing the buck to her staff; it's time she accepted the blame herself. This expression dates from the mid-1800s, when in a poker game a piece of buckshot or another object was passed around to remind a player that he was the next dealer. It acquired its present meaning by about 1900.
American Heritage Idioms