Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The shifting of responsibility or blame to another.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Blame shifting; the act of absolving oneself of responsibility or concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[buck (from a poker player's passing the marker, or buck, to the next player when not wanting to deal).]

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