cover one's back

cover one's back (third-person singular simple present covers one's back, present participle covering one's back, simple past and past participle covered one's back)

1. (informal, figuratively) To protect or look out for oneself.

   Synonyms: cover one's backside, cover one's behind, cover one's rear, cover one's ass, cover one's arse

• “cover one's back”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cover your back cover your rear”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “cover your backside behind rear”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.