Games1. A counter or marker formerly passed from one poker player to another to indicate an obligation, especially one's turn to deal. 2.Informal Obligation to account for something; responsibility: tried to pass the buck for the failure to his boss.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: bucked, buck·ing, bucks Informal To pass (a task or duty) to another, especially so as to avoid responsibility: “We will see the stifling of initiative and the increased bucking of decisions to the top” (Winston Lord, Foreign Affairs Fall 1989).
IDIOM:
the buck stops hereInformal The ultimate responsibility rests here.
ETYMOLOGY:
Short for buckhorn knife (from its use as a marker in poker).
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