cover one's tracks

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

1. (figuratively) To conceal how one arrived at a certain result or position.
   • 1959 September, “Talking of Trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 401, photo caption:

     C.I.E. Class "D14" 4-4-0 No. 89 covers its tracks with a magnificent smokescreen as it pulls out of Dun Laoghaire with the 9.0 a.m. boat train for Dublin. [in this case, railway tracks]

• “cover your tracks”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “cover your tracks” (US) / “cover your tracks” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “cover your tracks” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “cover your tracks”, in Collins English Dictionary.