the.com/patsy

means A person set up to take the blame, or be the victim of a trick, while others walk away clean.

from Of uncertain origin — American slang from the early 1900s, first showing up in underworld and vaudeville lingo for the fall guy. The leading guess ties it to the Italian 'pazzo,' meaning 'fool' or 'madman,' carried over through Italian immigrant communities, but no one can prove the thread all the way. Another old folk tale claims it comes from a punching-bag doll called 'Patsy' that always got hit and always bounced back for more — a nice image, but there's no solid evidence behind it. The word surfaces in print by the early 1900s already meaning exactly what it means now: the one left holding the bag.