Home › Glossary › Letter P

Pay through the nose

Idiomatic Phrase
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Pay through the nose|Idiomatic Phrase|To pay an excessively high or unreasonable price for goods, services, or penalties; emphasizes financial burden and exploitation in transactions.

Detailed Definition
Possibly from Norse occupation of Ireland, where nose-slitting punished tax evaders. In poetry, it critiques exploitation—consumerism, medical costs, emotional toll. Satirists mock luxury’s false value; realists lament necessity’s cost. The violent image (nose = face, identity) implies humiliation in overpayment. Poets use it to explore inequity: who pays, who profits? Its visceral punch suits protest verse, where financial strain becomes bodily violation—making economic injustice felt, not just calculated, in lyrical indictments of greed.
Example
Example in poetry:
Medical bankruptcy poem: “Chemo cost $100K—paid through the nose for extra months”; Housing crisis: “Rent doubled—pay through the nose for closet-sized apartment”; Tourist trap: “Souvenir tat—paid through the nose for plastic Eiffel Tower”; Insurance rage: “Deductible sky-high—pay through the nose just to see doctor”.
Additional Notes
Possibly from Norse occupation of Ireland, where nose-slitting punished tax evaders. In poetry, it critiques exploitation—consumerism, medical costs, emotional toll. Satirists mock luxury’s false value; realists lament necessity’s cost. The violent image (nose = face, identity) implies humiliation in overpayment. Students should analyze how poets use it to explore inequity: who pays, who profits? Its visceral punch suits protest verse, where financial strain becomes bodily violation—making economic injustice felt, not just calculated, in lyrical indictments of greed and systemic extraction.
Also Known As
Pay an arm and a leg Overpay
Skip to main content