arm and a leg

Idioms  

1. An exorbitant amount of money, as in These resort hotels charge an arm and a leg for a decent meal, or Fixing the car is going to cost an arm and a leg. According to Eric Partridge, this hyperbolic idiom, which is always used in conjunction with verbs such as “cost,” “charge,” or “pay,” and became widely known from the 1930s on, probably came from the 19th-century American criminal slang phrase, if it takes a leg (that is, even at the cost of a leg), to express desperate determination.

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Example Sentences

A 28-year-old British volunteer lost an arm and a leg – saving civilians - but is now stable in hospital.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2025

He already suspects that “the fancy new computer system that they’ve spent an arm and a leg on” is at fault, and has refused to endorse its figures.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2024

But there may be other items on the list that do not cost an arm and a leg.

From Reuters • Feb. 21, 2023

This time, in a work well-timed to the world’s inflation crisis, they want to show that it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, either.

From Washington Post • Jun. 26, 2022

So she took a taxi, which cost her an arm and a leg.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

Related Words

• amount
• charge
• damage
• expenditure
• figure
• outlay
• payment
• price
• price tag
• rate
• tariff
• value
• worth