kick the can down the road

Verb

kick the can down the road (third-person singular simple present kicks the can down the road, present participle kicking the can down the road, simple past and past participle kicked the can down the road)

1. (idiomatic, informal) To avoid or postpone a decision or action; to procrastinate.
   • Ronald Lehman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategic and theater nuclear bombs, said the United States was satisfied with its land-based deterrent for many years and "there was a tendency to kick the can down the road and not pay enough attention to its problems.1983 April 5, “Will MX Succeed This Time?”, in Bennington Banner, Bennington, VT, page 8
   • To continue haggling over points on which a consensus seems impossible, Lehman said, is to "just keep kicking the can down the road."1983 April 10, Jeff Nesmith, Andrew Alexander, “Will End to MX Stalemate Provide Long-Term Solution?”, in The Post, volume l, number 15, West Palm Beach, FL, page A10

   Synonyms:

   adjourn, avert, defer, delay, dilly-dally, draw out, extend, forslow, forestall, forestay