Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
buck (nn., v.)
Buck is actually several different nouns: (1) a male deer, goat, etc., although extended use of this sense as either noun or adjunct is now considered a slur, especially when applied to any man of color; (2) a sawhorse or gymnastic “horse”; (3) a marker (probably a knife with a buckhorn handle) to identify the dealer in a poker game, and hence an indicator of final responsibility, as in The buck stops here and She’s just passing the buck (an extension of this word is the Conversational or Informal slang word for dollar). The verb describes the horse’s leaping and jumping, often in the effort to unseat its rider; it’s probably from balk (which see), and there are many figurative uses from this sense, many of them Standard.
