an arm and a leg

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

an arm and a leg (plural arms and legs)

1. (idiomatic, hyperbolic) Usually used after the verb cost, but also often charge, pay, and spend: a very high price for an item or service; an exorbitant price

   Synonym: pretty penny (cost a pretty penny)

   • 1954, Commentary, volume 18, American Jewish Committee, page 448:

     That Polack costs me an arm and a leg, he thought.

   • 1960 March 29, “Slim waists prompted new sportswear line”, in The New York Times, page 44:

     Bangle bracelets in fourteen-karat gold that do not cost an arm and a leg are always in demand.

   • 2008, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Wives, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 417:

     Her house was fabulous, her tits perfection – besides – the Beverly Hills Hotel was costing him an arm and a leg.

• “cost an arm and a leg/a small fortune”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “cost an arm and a leg”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.