throw under the bus

English

Alternative forms

• throw under a bus

Etymology

Attested from the early 1980s, possibly of UK origin.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

throw under the bus (third-person singular simple present throws under the bus, present participle throwing under the bus, simple past threw under the bus, past participle thrown under the bus)

1. (transitive, of a person or group) To betray or blame (something or someone); to deliberately put (something or someone) in an unfavorable situation and then leave to their fate; to make (something or someone) into a scapegoat or otherwise abandon for personal gain.
   • 1993 January 27, Steven Cronin, “Sitter: Girl ‘Asked For It,’ Woman Told Her”, in Press of Atlantic City:

     "A person who does things for me and befriended me and helped me out when I needed help, I'm certainly not going to throw them under the bus," she said.

   • 2008 October 2, Brian Grow et al., “Dangerous Fakes”, in Business Week, retrieved 24 Mar. 2009:

     "I got thrown under the bus by BAE," she says. "They did not want to take responsibility, so they pointed at us."

   • 2013 May 24, Schlock Mercenary‎^[1]:

     Captain Tagon: So, all you did was serve us fast, before [chef] Ch'votlq could deploy his whisk of ruin?
     Liz: Please don't make me throw my new boss under the bus.

   • 2023 October 27, Alexander Hurst, “Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a disaster for the French left – his response to the attack on Israel proves it”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     If you want to know the deep values that drive someone, sometimes you have to look at who they admire, who they throw under the bus and who they refuse to unreservedly condemn.

2. (transitive, of a thing, idea, etc.) To discard or disown.
   • 2008 July 20, Ken Newton, “Local tiff is the new old thing”, in St. Joseph News-Press, US, retrieved 31 Aug. 2021:

     A recent magazine article discussed the need to throw under the bus worn-out cultural catchphrases, with the first being “throw under the bus.”

Synonyms

• (betray or blame, use as a scapegoat): sacrifice, sell down the river, throw to the wolves
• (discard or disown): reject

Translations

betray

• Danish: kaste under bussen
• German: in die Pfanne hauen
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kaste under bussen (no)

• Spanish: poner a alguien a los pies de los caballos

See also

• fair-weather friend
• hang out to dry

Further reading

• “throw (someone) under the bus v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present