pay through the nose

1. To pay unreasonably high prices: “If you visit any major city these days, you had better be prepared to pay through the nose for a hotel room.”

Idioms and Phrases

Pay an excessive amount for something, as in We paid through the nose for that vacation. The origin of this term has been lost. Possibly it alludes to the Danish nose tax, imposed in Ireland in the 9th century, whereby delinquent taxpayers were punished by having their noses slit. [Second half of 1600s]

Example Sentences

Long-standing property owners or their heirs often pay virtually nothing in property taxes, while new purchasers pay through the nose, even for houses on the same block.

From Slate

Moreover, customers are always going to pay through the nose for tickets to high-profile, massively popular acts like Taylor Swift.

From Los Angeles Times

We have one daughter and pay through the nose for private childcare.

From Slate

That's why they were likely willing to pay through the nose to make the Dominion lawsuit go away.

From Salon

“I had no choice but to pay through the nose for cabbages,” said 56-year-old Sung Ok-Koung, a homemaker in Seoul, for whom making kimchi is an important family activity.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• confiscate 
• levy 
• punish