front for

front for (someone or something)

1. verb To seem reputable in order to hide underhanded or illegal activities. Oh, come on, everybody knows that restaurant just fronts for the mob!
2. verb To handle or represent something publicly for someone or something. Don't worry, our lawyer will front for us—we don't have to speak to the press.
3. noun Something reputable that hides underhanded or illegal activities. Oh, come on, everybody knows that restaurant is just a front for the mob!
See also: front
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

front for someone or something

to serve as the public contact or public "face" for someone or something. Her publicity agent fronted for her most of the time. Max fronted for a gang of thieves.
See also: front
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

front for

v.
1. To appear to operate with a legitimate purpose in order to conceal the operation of something or someone: The grocery store was actually fronting for a group of smugglers.
2. To serve as a cover for or representative of someone or something: Leave the negotiations up to me—I'll front for you.
See also: front
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • front for (someone or something)
  • get hands dirty and dirty hands; soil hands
  • dirty (one's) hands
  • dirty one's hands
  • sully
  • sully (one's) hands
  • sully your hands
  • soil (one's) hands
  • answer to
  • bagging
References in periodicals archive
The figure sequentially shows the motion of a particle at the flow front for the constrained case.
Real-time measurement of flow front kinematics using quantitative visualization in injection molding process
Fronting insurers have to put in the same amount of work to front for a small captive as they do for a large captive.
Out from behind the front: in the wake of a severe shortage of fronting insurers for captives a few years ago, more and more companies are trying to reduce their dependence on fronts--either by setting up risk retention groups or by writing business directly
The NLG has been intimately and openly involved with the Communist Party USA, Fidel Castro, and such terrorist groups as the Weather Underground, the Black Liberation Army, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation.
Crying "peace" while waging war: millions of people around the world are demonstrating against the U.S./UN war on Iraq. Most of them are unaware of the hidden revolutionary agenda of the "peace" leaders. (War & Peace)
The PNF, as it took shape in 1974, included representatives of the Jordanian Communist Party, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Fatah, and the Ba'th Party, as well as labor, student, professional, and women's groups.(21) As such, the Front was a composite of communist and left-nationalist organizations.
Nayif Hawatmah, Secretary General of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, 18 November 1979," PAD 1979 (1981), p.
The rise and demise of the left in West Bank politics: the case of the Palestine National Front