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highway robbery

SEE SYNONYMS FOR highway robbery

noun

robbery committed on a highway against travelers, as by a highwayman.
Informal. a price or fee that is unreasonably high; exorbitant charge.

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Origin of highway robbery

First recorded in 1770–80

OTHER WORDS FROM highway robbery

highway robber, noun

Words nearby highway robbery

highway, Highway Code, highway contract route, highwayman, highway patrol, highway robbery, high wine, high wire, high-wire act, high-wrought, High Wycombe
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to highway robbery

gouge, holdup, rip-off, armed robbery, banditry

British Dictionary definitions for highway robbery

highway robbery

noun

informal blatant overcharging
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with highway robbery

highway robbery

The exaction of an exorbitantly high price or fee. For example, You paid ten dollars for that meat? That's highway robbery. This term, used figuratively since the late 1800s, alludes to literal robbery of travelers on or near a public road.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.