give (one's) right arm

(redirected from you have given your right arm)

give (one's) right arm

A figurative phrase that highlights one's interest in having something or eagerness to do something. A: "I'm going to the concert on Saturday!" B: "Aw man, I would give my right arm to have tickets to that!" I would give my right arm for your sister's gorgeous hair!

give one's right arm (for someone or something)

and give one's eyeteeth (for someone or something)

Fig. to be willing to give something of great value for someone or something. I'd give my right arm for a nice cool drink. I'd give my eyeteeth to be there.

give your right arm

If you say that you would give your right arm for something or to do something, you mean that you want it very much. There are not many jobs I would give my right arm for. I can do nothing but think about my ex-husband. I would give my right arm to be able to start again. Note: Most people are right-handed, and so consider their right arm to be more important than their left.

would give your right arm for

be willing to pay a high price for; greatly desire to have or do. informal

would ˌgive your right ˈarm for something/to do something

(informal) want something very much: I’d give my right arm to own a horse like that.

See also: arm, for, give, right, something, to

give one's right arm, to

To go to any lengths. Also put as cut off one’s right arm for, this term expresses a major sacrifice for all but the left-handed, perhaps even more so than to give one’s eyeteeth. An Americanism from the twentieth century, it presumably was well known by the time Robert G. Dean used it in Layoff (1942): “He’d cut off his right arm for her, as the saying goes.”