IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishtake the rap
Meaning: To accept blame or punishment, often for someone else.
Example: “The youngest employee took the rap for the missing cash.”
Origin: A "rap" was a criminal charge in American slang from the 1900s, as in "rap sheet." Taking the rap meant being the one charged.
Equivalents in other languages
Portuguese: Pagar o pato Literally: To pay the duck
German: etwas auf seine Kappe nehmen Literally: To take something onto one's cap
More English idioms
- smell a rat To sense that something dishonest is going on.
- a hard nut to crack A difficult problem, or a person who is hard to deal with.
- have a finger in every pie To be involved in many different things at once.
- have a bee in one's bonnet To be obsessed with one idea.
- put down roots To settle somewhere permanently.
- start off on the wrong foot To begin something badly.
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