throw under the bus

Physically throwing a person under a big, smelly city bus is the perfect metaphor for the act of positioning someone to be ground up under the wheels of the ever rolling omnibus of society in your stead. The bus carries people. The people's weight is what crushes the victim. This setting up of a patsy has an earlier, more agrarian beginning in "throwing him to the wolves." Someone is going down, it's not going to be you, so you select a candidate to feed into the system.

"Throw under the bus"
Every time the president gets in trouble, he'll throw another cabinet member under the bus.

by Chris Zizzo May 20, 2006

throw under the bus

You get thrown under the bus when someone (usually a co-worker) reports some wrongdoing or slacking off to a superior or other influential person. Sometimes used with the suffix "Vrooooom!" to simulate the noise the bus would make as it passes by at a high rate of speed.

"Dicky George, I can't believe you just threw me under the bus."

by Jeremy October 30, 2002

throw under the bus

1. To reveal information damaging to another's character as to a boss or girlfriend.

Yo, Ben, thanks for throwing me under the bus with that remark about those girls.

by theunknowngl October 17, 2004

throw under the bus

Visiting ThrowUnder.com to sacrifice some other person, usually one who is undeserving or at least vulnerable, to make personal gain.

He'd visit ThrowUnder.com and throw under the bushis own mother if it'd mean he could beat the rap.

by ThrowUnder.com August 6, 2009

throw under the bus

To actually throw somebody under a moving bus.

Example 1
I was feeling really upset with my colleague, so I threw her under a bus. This was my fulfilment of a lifetime urge to actually practice the phenomenon to "throw under the bus".

Example 2
The driver confronted me and asked "what the fuck did you throw her under my bus for?"

by The Gonzo Lecture March 10, 2010

throw under the bus

1. To denounce and reject a friend, mentor, relative, colleague, or casual acquaintance for the sake of political expediency.

2. Something that critics demand politicians do to the allegedly toxic people they are allegedly connected to. Only applies to black presidential candidates, who can throw their acquaintances under the bus repeatedly without ever satisfying the media's taste for roadkill.

January: Why doesn't Obama throw his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, under the bus?

May: Why did Obama wait so long to throw Wright under the bus?

June: Who else will Obama need to throw under the bus?

by mystash May 2, 2008

throw under the bus

What a married man does to his ex affair partner when the wife catches him and he realizes he screwed up royally and wants his marriage back.

In order to keep his marriage, Jack felt impelled to throw his mistress under the bus so fast you could see the tire tracks on her back. To throw under the bus usually means someone is a liar.

by micmc January 2, 2008