pay through the nose
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Pay much more than a fair price.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
trả với giá cao hơn nhiều so với giá công bằng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
They paid through the nose for ‘ one - to - one intensive tuition from qualified experts supported by sophisticated resources incorporating the latest technology’.
The rest of the morning was wasted on the business of getting the car released, and paying through the nose for the privilege.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “pay through the nose” mean?
Pay much more than a fair price.
Is “pay through the nose” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.