bargain-basement

bargain-basement

1. Sold at a low or reduced price; very inexpensive. The term comes from a section of a department store, usually at the ground or basement level, where inexpensive items or those at reduced prices are sold. George paid nearly $500 for his designer suit, but I think my bargain-basement suit looks just as nice.
2. Of very poor or inferior quality; having very little or no value. You can tell that these are bargain-basement toys: they all broke after an hour of the kids playing with them.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • basement
  • bin
  • bargain-bin
  • for anything (in the world)
  • factory farming
  • stogies
  • jug wine
  • cheap at half the price
  • cheap at twice the price
  • buy cheap, buy twice
References in periodicals archive
Not-quite perfect products offered at bargain-basement prices; regular merchandise also available.
BLOWN AWAY
The first shoe dropped last October, when SAPPI announced it had a buyer in the Seattle-based Plum Creek Timber Company, which was paying a bargain-basement $180 million.
A Clearance Sale Down East
But Park Avenue South's bargain-basement days are over, and rents and reaching parity with core Midtown rates, according to executives from SageGroupAssociates (SGA), a full-service commercial brokerage and real estate consulting firm.
Park Avenue South sees vacancies fall as rents inch toward Midtown
As the evening wears on, and the sweat gathers in greater profusion, off come the bargain-basement shirts and jeans.
Tap Dogs
Thousands of young black men are serving long prison sentences for selling cocaine--a drug that was virtually unobtainable in black neighborhoods before members of the CIA's army brought it into South-Central in the 1980s at bargain-basement prices."
Still on drugs
But even as they try to dazzle you with bargain-basement budgeting, NEA boosters and PBS fans also feel an urgent need to inform you that much more is on the line than the infinitesimal amount of money these programs soak up: Civilization itself hangs in the balance.
Artistic licenses
Thanks to his bargain-basement montage, underground cities (from Flash Gordon?) seethe with Satanic mutants> President Eisenhower goes for a spin on a U.F.O.
Tribulation 99
THERE is so much to admire about Blackpool - bargain-basement players refusing to accept a predictable fate in the world's richest league.
OLLY'S RANT IS SO HOLLOW
Deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning said: "This is a disgraceful bid to replace fair, negotiated compensation with bargain-basement pay-offs."
Fury at Govt bid to slash job loss cash; WHITEHALL
The health secretary said bargain-basement deals were a health risk.
Booze promos blasted
To win the Cheveley Park with such a bargain-basement purchase is an excellent advertisement for the game.
CHATROOM; The best of your emails and texts
The bargain-basement filly was taking her unbeaten record to three as she beat odds-on favourite Ithaca, trained by Henry Cecil.
Racing
Altair hopes to take advantage of bargain-basement opportunities for production in Argentina.
Tapping into int'l interest. (Argentina)
His bargain-basement signings, especially Stern John, have caught the eye.
Sunday Roast: SIGNS OF HOPE
Effectively, it meant that Adolph Zukor, who was the chairman of Famous Players-Lasky, drove the Allens out of business and through FPCC, he bought all their theatres at a bargain-basement price.
The "Nabes": Toronto's Wonderful Neighbourhood Movie Houses. (Books)