the buck stops here

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. A statement that no excuses will be made, that the speaker is going to take direct responsibility for matters, rather than pass the responsibility to higher authorities.

Pronunciation

En-au-the buck stops here.ogg En-us-the buck stops here.oga

Word forms

the buck stops here

Etymology

Popularized by US President Harry Truman. The phrase is based on the metaphorical expression passing the buck, derived from poker gameplay, that came to mean "passing blame", or absolving oneself of responsibility or concern by denying authority or jurisdiction over a given matter.

Related words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.