an arm and a leg
10
5.8
- idiom
- Informal
:
un ojo de la cara
- It cost me an arm and a leg.
- cost an arm and a leg
- charge an arm and a leg
- pay an arm and a leg
But let's be real here, there is another way that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and takes six months.
- But let's be real here, there is another way that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and takes six months.
- He goes, but I'm going to need an arm and a leg to make that.
Examples
-
They charge an arm and a leg for this stuff.
-
Geez, it must cost an arm and a leg to feed that thing.
-
People would pay an arm and a leg to see this.
-
The school will cost your mother an arm and a leg.
-
These cost an arm and a leg.
-
It's gonna cost an arm and a leg, you know?
-
How come they charge an arm and a leg to go there?
Blog text (31) -
And it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.
Blog text (22) -
Many people think that it's impossible to have fashionable clothing without spending an arm and a leg.
Blog text (28) -
College textbooks, new or used, can cost an arm and a leg.
Synonyms
604
1.0
A large amount of money that lets you buy expensive things or do big projects
68
2.8
A very large amount of money
5
3.0
A lot of money
3
7.5
A very large amount of money or something very valuable
Antonyms
How Expensive
Surface Forms
Morphology
an + arm + and + a + leg
The meaning 'a very high price' is not derivable from the literal meanings of 'arm' and 'leg' or the articles; this is a conventionalized idiom whose sense is arbitrary relative to its parts. Although some languages use body-part metaphors for cost, the exact wording is language-specific, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably infer the idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
One popular story says the phrase an arm and a leg comes from old portrait painters who charged more to paint a person's arm and leg because those parts took extra work. So saying something costs 'an arm and a leg' means it is 'very expensive'.