highway

my way or the highway

If you do not do things the way I want or require, then you can just leave or not participate. I'm here to create the best musicians in the world, so in this room, it's my way or the highway!

See also: highway, way

highways and byways

Both major and minor or lesser-traveled roads. (Often used figuratively to describe paths taken in life.) I'm taking the summer to travel across the Midwest, driving through highways and byways to find all sorts of unique places. By highways and byways, he ended up making a life for himself in a small village in India.

See also: and, highway

(as) hot as highway blacktop

Extremely hot in temperature. Geez, it's hot as highway blacktop today—we really need to stay in the shade.

See also: blacktop, highway, hot

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

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

highways and byways

 

1. major and minor roads. The city council voted to plant new trees along all the highways and byways of the town.

2. Cliché routes and pathways, both major and minor. I hope I meet you again some day on life's highways and byways.

See also: and, highway

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

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

ˌhighways and ˈbyways

(on/along) all the roads, large and small, of a country, an area, etc: She travelled the highways and byways of Scotland collecting folk songs and local traditions.

A byway is a small road.

See also: and, highway

ˌmy way or the ˈhighway

(American English, informal) used to say that somebody else has either to agree with your opinion or to leave: Right now there is only one rule here. It’s my way or the highway.

See also: highway, way

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

as hot as highway blacktop

Scorching. A typical summer day in the Deep South.

See also: blacktop, highway, hot