daylight robbery
A situation in which one is charged an exorbitant price. I need to find another mechanic because this bill is just daylight robbery! I can't believe how much he charged for a simple repair. They clipped me for an extra $300 when they fixed my laptop because they knew that I had no choice but to pay up. It's daylight robbery, I tell you! You can't charge customers $500 for that beat-up dresser—that would be daylight robbery!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
daylight robbery
Fig. the practice of blatantly or grossly overcharging. It's daylight robbery to charge that amount of money for a hotel room! The cost of renting a car at that place is daylight robbery.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
daylight robbery
Charging exorbitant prices, as in
The amount you're asking for this couch is daylight robbery. [Mid-1900s] Also see
highway robbery.
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.
daylight robbery
blatant and unfair overcharging. British informal 2005 MotleyFool.co.uk: Comment Have you seen the price of potted plants and fruit trees in garden centres recently? It's daylight robbery.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌdaylight ˈrobbery
(informal, especially British English) a price or fee that you think is far too high: £6 000 for an old car like this? That’s daylight robbery!Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
daylight robbery
An outrageously high price. An appliance store advertises a refrigerators for $900, but you see ads for the same brand and model elsewhere for half that price. That store, you conclude, is committing daylight robbery, a “crime” so metaphorically blatant that it is being committed in broad daylight. That's not to be confused with “highway robbery.” “Daylight robbery” offers you the option of paying the money or not, but you don't have that choice in “highway robbery,” just as the victim of a stagecoach holdup had no choice. Your city raises property taxes. You receive the bill, take one look, and scream, “That's highway robbery!”
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price