Fig: trying to avoid responsibility for something by passing it on to someone else

When the building fell, the tenants blamed the owner, the owner blamed the construction company, and the construction company blamed the engineer. In other words, everyone passed the buck and no one admitted his responsibility

Quando l'edificio è crollato, gli affittuari hanno incolpato il proprietario, il proprietario ha incolpato l'impresa edile e l'impresa edile ha incolpato l'ingegnere. In poche parole, hanno fatto tutti a scaricabarile e nessuno ha ammesso le proprie responsabilità

Who did it? God knows! They're all so busy passing the buck that it's hard to tell

Chi è stato? Vattelapesca! Quelli fanno a scaricabarile

It's easy to pass the buck and blame someone else for your failures

È facile fare a scaricabarile e incolpare qualcun altro dei tuoi errori

American poker players of the 19th century would pass a marker or counter from player to player to signify whose turn it was to deal. Frequently in frontier days, a buckshot or a knife with a buckhorn handle was used as a marker. If the player in turn did not wish to deal, he could pass the responsibility by passing the buck, as the counter came to be called, to the next player