blink first
verb1
Idiomatic To be the first party in some situation to give in or back down.
- The future of these valuable vehicles depends on who blinks first in the stand-off between a ROSCO wanting to maximise the return on its investment and the determination of DfT to reduce operating costs.2023 June 28, Ben Jones, “Are we getting rid of our (still useful) rolling stock too early?”, in RAIL, number 986, page 29: