pass the buck
pass the buck verb: to transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.
Verb
pass the buck (third-person singular simple present passes the buck, present participle passing the buck, simple past and past participle passed the buck)
- To transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.
- McLean was quoted in the Austin American Statesman as saying that although he had expected the guidelines to be ruled illegal, an attorney general's opinion […] was required in order to clarify the law. But critics say Bernstein and McLean simply passed the buck to the attorney general in order to...1990 February 4, David Morris, “Attorney General Sides With Texas Gay Groups”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 3
- He closes the foreword by acknowledging that his proposals would have far-reaching impacts on railway staff, communities and industry - and passes the buck onto government to ensure that these consequences are managed appropriately.2023 March 8, Gareth Dennis, “The Reshaping of things to come...”, in RAIL, number 978, page 44
pass the buck meaning in Tamil and Vietnamese
pass the buck in Tamil
- இன்னொருவர் மீது பழி சுமத்துவது
pass the buck in Vietnamese
- to transfer responsibility or blame from oneself
- đổ trách nhiệm, chuồi trách nhiệm, đổ tội, đổ lỗi, đổ quanh
Forms of pass the buck
| third-person singular present | passes the buck |
|---|---|
| present participle | passing the buck |
| past participle | passed the buck |
| past | passed the buck |
| alternative form | pass the book |
Origin of pass the buck
May have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buckhorn" or "buck", as the marker came to be called, to the next player.
Questions about pass the buck
- What does pass the buck mean?
- Pass the buck means to transfer responsibility or blame from oneself onto another; to absolve oneself of concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.
- What is pass the buck in Tamil?
- Pass the buck in Tamil is இன்னொருவர் மீது பழி சுமத்துவது. See Pass the buck meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is pass the buck?
- Pass the buck is a verb.
- What is the past tense of pass the buck?
- The past tense of pass the buck is passed the buck.
Words near pass the buck in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pass the buck (page history and authors); pass the buck (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-pass the buck.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pass the buck.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pass_the_buck. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.