Meaning
Used to complain that a price or charge is outrageously, offensively high; figurative extortion. Informal in every major variety of English, often in the exclamation 'that's highway robbery', with no suggestion that an actual robbery took place. Informal and humorous in intent despite the criminal imagery. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The literal sense came first: the OED's earliest citation, quoted by Grammarphobia, is John Speed's 'History of Great Britaine' (1611), where skulking raids are said to resemble 'high-way robberies' more than lawful battle, and 'highwayman' follows in 1617. The figurative sense, blatant and unfair overcharging or swindling, is first recorded in Isaac Jackman's 1777 farce 'All the World's a Stage': 'What, five shillings for a boiled fowl! ... This is high-way robbery, without the credit of being robbed.' The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms notes that the figurative use became common only in the late 1800s, by which time mounted highwaymen had faded into history and the expression could function as comic exaggeration about prices.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- it's highway robbery
- legalized highway robbery
- perfect highway robbery
- that's highway robbery
Usage Examples
- Paying eight dollars for a bottle of water at the stadium is highway robbery.
- Farmers branded the fertilizer prices highway robbery and threatened to find another supplier.
- She laughed that the taxi fare felt like highway robbery, then paid it anyway.