Pass the buck

In the sense of to shift blame or responsibility is an American expression dating from the early 20th century. In its literal sense, passing the buck was originally a term from draw poker from about the mid-19th century. The buck was some object, usually a knife, used as a marker, indicating that the player with the marker was next in line to deal. It may have been called a buck because knife handles were typically made of buckhorn. Some etymologists maintain the marker or buck was sometimes a silver dollar and was the origin of a dollar being called a buck. If this is true, then the origin of buck as in dollar stems from poker but the evidence is inconclusive. The most famous use of the expression was the sign that US president Harry Truman had on his desk in the White House, ‘The buck stops here.’ See also Buck.