Word.ws English Dictionary

an arm and a leg

an arm and a leg noun: usually used after the verb cost, but also often charge, pay, and spend: a very high price for an item or service; an exorbitant price.

Noun

an arm and a leg (plural arms and legs)

  1. (excessive, idiomatic) Usually used after the verb cost, but also often charge, pay, and spend: a very high price for an item or service; an exorbitant price
    • I would have liked to have gone to the concert, but the tickets cost an arm and a leg.
    • They were hoping to have some cash left over, but the tickets cost them an arm and a leg.

an arm and a leg meaning in Vietnamese

an arm and a leg in Vietnamese

exorbitant amount
giá cắt cổ, giá trên trời

Examples of an arm and a leg in a sentence

  • I paid an arm and a leg for those tickets.
  • That Polack costs me an arm and a leg, he thought.1954, Commentary, volume 18, American Jewish Committee, page 448:
  • Bangle bracelets in fourteen-karat gold that do not cost an arm and a leg are always in demand.1960 March 29, “Slim waists prompted new sportswear line”, in The New York Times, page 44:
  • Her house was fabulous, her tits perfection – besides – the Beverly Hills Hotel was costing him an arm and a leg.2008, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Wives, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN, page 417:

Synonyms of an arm and a leg

Forms of an arm and a leg

pluralarms and legs

Questions about an arm and a leg

What does an arm and a leg mean?
An arm and a leg means usually used after the verb cost, but also often charge, pay, and spend: a very high price for an item or service; an exorbitant price.
What is an arm and a leg in Vietnamese?
An arm and a leg in Vietnamese is giá cắt cổ, giá trên trời. See An arm and a leg meaning in Vietnamese.
How do you use an arm and a leg in a sentence?
I paid an arm and a leg for those tickets.
What part of speech is an arm and a leg?
An arm and a leg is a noun.
What is the plural of an arm and a leg?
The plural of an arm and a leg is arms and legs.

Words near an arm and a leg in the dictionary

  1. an all
  2. an angel passes
  3. an apple a day
  4. an apple a day keeps the doctor at bay
  5. an apple a day keeps the doctor away
  6. an arm and a leg
  7. an army marches on its stomach
  8. An Dương
  9. an egg's age
  10. an Englishman's home is his castle
  11. an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: an arm and a leg (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-arm and a leg.ogg.

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