highway robbery

• highway-robbery

Compare Old English weġrēaf (“highway robbery”, literally “road-theft”).

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highway robbery (countable and uncountable, plural highway robberies)

1. (historical, literal) The act of robbing a traveler on a public road.

   Synonyms: high pad, padding

2. (idiomatic, usually uncountable) Excessive or exorbitant prices.

   Synonyms: daylight robbery, price gouging

   Coordinate terms: bargain, steal

   They think they can charge $400 for a shirt? That's highway robbery.