Advertisement

Advertisement

The buck stops here

  1. I'm the ultimately responsible person in this organization. Other people can pass the buck to me, but I can't pass the buck to anyone else.


Discover More

Notes

President Harry S. Truman kept a sign on his desk that read, “The buck stops here.”

Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

I'll take full responsibility, as in You needn't call my boss; the buck stops here . This saying gained fame as a sign on the desk of President Harry S. Truman. It alludes to another expression that means the opposite, pass the buck . [Mid-1900s]

Advertisement

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement