IdiomBody & Senses
English
EnglishTo cost an arm and a leg
Meaning: To be extremely expensive.
Example: “Concert tickets cost an arm and a leg these days.”
Origin: 20th-century American; possibly evoking the terrible price soldiers paid, or portraitists charging more to include limbs.
Equivalents in other languages
Spanish: Costar un ojo de la cara Literally: To cost an eye from the face
Finnish: Maksaa maltaita Literally: To cost malts
French: Ça pique Literally: It stings- French: Coûter un bras Literally: To cost an arm
- French: Coûter la peau des fesses Literally: To cost the skin off one's backside / the eyes out of one's head
More English idioms
- To burn the midnight oil To work late into the night.
- Once in a blue moon Very rarely.
- To break the ice To ease the initial tension in a social situation.
- To throw a spanner in the works To sabotage or disrupt a plan.
- A skeleton in the closet A shameful secret kept hidden.
- To read the riot act To reprimand someone sternly.
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