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take the rap

SEE SYNONYMS FOR take the rap ON THESAURUS.COM

To be punished or blamed, especially when innocent: “The crime boss arranged it so that his underling took the rap for the insurance scam.”

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Words nearby take the rap

take the law into one's hands, take the liberty of, take the load off, take the plunge, take the pulse of, take the rap, take the rough with the smooth, take the starch out of, take the sting out of, take the trouble, take the wind out of one's sails
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Words related to take the rap

face the music, take it, pay the piper, take one's medicine

Idioms and Phrases with take the rap

take the rap

Be punished or blamed for something, as in I don't want to take the rap for Mary, who forgot to mail the check in time, or Steve is such a nice guy that he's always taking the rap for his colleagues. This slangy idiom originally used rap in the sense of “a criminal charge,” a usage still current. By the mid-1900s it was also used more broadly.

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