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price on one's head

Idioms  

  1. A reward for capturing or killing someone, usually someone guilty of a crime. For example, He was a serial killer, and they put a price on his head. The head in this term presumably alludes to the older punishment of beheading. [Mid-1700s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Having a price on one's head is not a joking matter.

From Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders Among the Kentucky Mountaineers by Flower, Jessie Graham [pseud.]

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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

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