highway
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(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.
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.
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.
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!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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!
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.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
highway robbery
BRITISH, AMERICAN ordaylight robbery
BRITISHYou 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!
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
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.
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.Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
as hot as highway blacktop
Scorching. A typical summer day in the Deep South.
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price