highway robbery

highway robbery

A situation in which one is charged an exorbitant price. I need to find another mechanic because this bill is just highway robbery! I can't believe how much he charged for a simple repair.
See also: highway, robbery
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

highway robbery

outrageous overpricing; a bill that is much higher than normally acceptable but must be paid. (As if one had been accosted and robbed on the open road or in broad daylight.) Four thousand dollars! That's highway robbery for one piece of furniture! I won't pay it! It's highway robbery!
See also: highway, robbery
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

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.
See also: highway, robbery
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

highway robbery

BRITISH, AMERICAN or

daylight robbery

BRITISH
You use highway robbery or daylight robbery to describe a situation in which you are charged far too much money for something. They're charging ten bucks for the comics, which sounds like highway robbery to us. You have to pay thousands of dollars for the service. It's daylight robbery!
See also: highway, robbery
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

highway robbery

So expensive that it is considered extortion. This expression simply transfers the literal meaning—armed robbery of travelers on an open road—to the more or less legitimate charging of exorbitant prices. As J. B. Priestley put it in It’s An Old Country (1967), “Nothing on the wine list under two-pound-ten. Highway robbery by candlelight.”
See also: highway, robbery
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • daylight robbery
  • the shirt off (one's) back
  • the shirt off back
  • the shirt off somebody's back
  • the shirt off your back
  • give (someone) a red face
  • give a red face
  • know at a glance that
  • know at a glance that (something is the case)
  • grease monkey
References in periodicals archive
"We are exercising highway robbery against the [Yemeni] government because it has abused our rights and refused to give us our salaries," the angry soldiers maintain, "We supported the government in its fight against Houthis, but it did not consider our demands."
Sa'ada security situation relatively calm (Front)
Xavier Duroux, the shrewd director of the Consortium in Dijon, calls this budgetary regulation nothing short of "highway robbery." That the present is a rough time for art is confirmed in every press release that makes its way to your mailbox; the word "crisis" is on everyone's lips.
Franc talk
Salgado's survey ranges over such subjects as London low-life, the dangers of highway robbery and pickpockets, the arbitrariness of justice, and the terrors of incarceration, and he also discusses such marginal activities as alchemy, witchcraft, and astrology.
Shakespeare's Professional Career
London-born, she began her career as a pickpocket, or cutpurse, but after being caught four times, she assumed male attire and turned to highway robbery, until she was apprehended and jailed briefly at Newgate.
Cutpurse, Moll
A treasurer of a town in Maguindanao transporting P6 million in payroll money, and her driver, survived a daylight highway robbery attempt in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao province on Saturday, police said.
Treasurer with P6M, driver survive highway robbery in Maguindanao
ISLAMABAD -- In the wake of a major highway robbery and viral videos of tourists being harassed by local traders, the Murree Municipal Corporation has deployed the Dolphin Force to provide a safe environment and restore the confidence of tourists.
Govt deploys Dolphin Force in Murree to ensure tourists' safety
Kamanza said the shooting down of the suspects is a breakthrough in the war on highway robbery. Kamanza urged members of the public to co-operate with police.
'Thugs' on way to steal shot dead in Molo
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced the seizure of the frozen assets as "highway robbery", vowing that the Islamic Republic will retrieve the sum anyway.
NAM Blasts US Court Ruling Against Iran
"Consumers shouldn't have to choose bet highway robbery and delays, congestion and inconvenience.
NYC Regulator Warns Of E-ZPass Charges
Offenders as young as 10 were charged with highway robbery, fraud and violent assault, a study of historic criminal registers found.
STUDY Kids crimewave in Victorian times; STUDY
The prosecution had charged the three convicts with involvement in armed gang to implement looting and highway robbery acts in Marib, where they assaulted on March 15 in 2011 on the victim Ali Hazza al-Selwi.
15 years imprisonment for 3 convicts in banditry acts
KARAK -- Karak police claimed to have arrested the robber involved in a highway robbery and also recovered the looted money from the dacoits, says a press release issued on Wednesday from the office of DPO Karak.
Highway robber arrested
POLITICAL campaigners said they will be highlighting the "highway robbery" of increased road tolls today with a protest near the Mersey tunnel.
Tunnel toll increase is 'highway robbery'
Helen Skelton (left) meets a couple who were victims of a highway robbery in Spain, and tries to rebuild their confidence.
3 TO SEE; WEDNESDAY February 27
2 ENERGY SUPPLIERS have been accused of "highway robbery" for ripping off thousands of small firms.
2 ENERGY