From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbuck for something phrasal verbto try very hard to get something, especially a good position at work He’s bucking for promotion. → buck→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
buck for • Rodman probably feels that that was the sort of job Grandfather bucked for all his life and finally made.• You are the Chairman of the company that made it and the buck for lacklustre design stops with you.• If the images in Myst bog down your screen, pony up the bucks for more memory or a faster video card.• A good pipe freeze could run a guy a few hundred bucks for new plumbing.• In fact it is everything a manager needs to know so if you are bucking for promotion you need this disk.• Made a few bucks for the Giants' ballpark fund. 3.• Meanwhile, the corporate-finance deals that had been generating big bucks for Wall Street's investment bankers were starting to dry up. 