throw someone under the bus
v. phr.— «We have benefited from having him here and I don’t feel any need to throw him under the bus.…He’s gotten pretty good results. He could use some help from his members, who could pay more. He has had some rough times, but you have to look forward.» —“Director Of Bureau Under Fire” by James Lawless Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) Feb. 20, 1995. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell (Bookshop|Amazon), Gabe Henry recounts the story of the first national spelling bee in 1908, which some contestants had threatened to boycott because one of the contestants from...
Dan, an accountant in Cincinnati, Ohio, wonders about the origin of the term bean counter. This is part of a complete episode.
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