A: What did Mary say at the meeting this afternoon? B: Nothing significant. She was happy to take a back seat and let Jim run the meeting. A: Really? I’m surprised that she would hand over her power. B: Isn’t it nice to sit back and relax and just let others worry sometimes? Note: This idiom means to let other people take a more active and responsible part in an organization or a situation. It uses back seat in contrast to the driver’s seat, that is, the one in control. We also have another idiom “backseat driver,” literally a passenger in a vehicle who is not driving but who excessively comments on the driver’s actions. | 