Also:
Cost and arm and a leg
Charge an arm and a leg
Pay and arm and a leg
Give and arm and a leg
Meaning of Idiom ‘An Arm and a Leg’
An arm and a leg is a very large amount of money; a very high price. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms]. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.
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Usage
When we say something “costs an arm and a leg” we mean that it is much too expensive and overpriced. Verbs such as cost, charge, pay, and give are almost always used with the expression, such as in the example “Hotel rooms around here cost an arm and a leg.”
Examples Of Use
“I had a flat tire on the way to work and the guy at the gas station charged me an arm and a leg to fix it.”
“I’m not going to pay an arm and a leg to fix a car with this many miles on it.”
“The phone companies these days are ridiculous. They expect an arm and a leg just so you can make simple phone calls.”
Origin
This hyperbolic idiom has been used since the early part of the 1900s and became widely used during the 1930s. It may have arisen from 19th century American slang from the criminal world, “if it takes a leg,” which was a way of expressing dogged determination. 3Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms]. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
25 Body Parts Idioms | Idioms Online Video
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More Idioms Starting with A
More Arm Idioms
- Twist Someone’s Arm
- Armed to the Teeth
- Give Your Right Arm (for something)
- Babe in Arms, a
- At Arm’s Length
More Body Part Idioms
- Go Belly Up
- Stand On Someone’s Shoulders
- In One’s Face
- Give Someone the Cold Shoulder
- Know Something Like the Back Of One’s Hand
- Out of the Corner of One’s Eye
- Work One’s Fingers To the Bone
More Cost Idioms
More Give Idioms
- Give Someone the Cold Shoulder
- Give Me a Second/Minute
- Give Me Some Sugar
- Give Someone a Break
- Give Me a Break
More Leg Idioms
More Money Related Idioms
- What’s the Damage?
- Moolah
- Flat Broke
- Last of the Big Spenders
- Ten-Dollar Word
- Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels
- In Hock
More Pay Idioms
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