save your (own) skin / hide / neck
(尤指不惜置他人於困境而)保全自己的性命,使自己免受懲罰
to try to avoid death, punishment, etc., especially by leaving others in an extremely difficult situation
To save his own skin, he lied and blamed the accident on his friend.為了自保,他竟然說謊,把事故的責任推到朋友身上。
釋義來自《牛津高階英漢雙解詞典》第 9 版