rip off

verb, noun — 8 senses

rip off

verbalso spelled rip-off
1

Literally To pull off by ripping.

2

Slang To cheat or swindle, especially by charging an excessively high or unfair price.

  • I can't believe how the car dealerships try to rip off their customers.
  • But a personal and almost menopausal crisis brings him back to an Edinburgh he hardly recognises. As if in a Sergio Leone film, Renton has an obscure need to return, to confront the demons of his past, in particular the three guys he ripped off after a drug deal at the end of the last story.2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian:
1 more example
  • "Nobody wants to feel ripped off, do they? And when you look at refurbishments like this, you must make sure the basics are done well, because that is what makes up most of the passenger experience. It makes people come back," says Darney.2025 July 23, Richard Wilcock, “A new dawn for the Electrostars”, in RAIL, number 1040, page 25:
3

Slang To steal.

  • Rechy's The Sexual Outlaw had been a formative book for me, ever since I ripped it off from a hometown bookstore in my early teens (what was I supposed to do, interact with a clerk?)1988 December 18, Christopher Wittke, “Why I Loved Marc Almond From The Minute I First Read About Him”, in Gay Community News, volume 16, number 23, page 16:
  • - Hey, guys. Where'd you get all that great stuff? - Five-finger discount, man.1990, "The Telltale Head" (The Simpsons season 1 episode 8)
4

Slang To copy, especially illegally.

  • They ripped off the whole idea from their competitors.
  • Robert Johnson and the devil, man / Don't know who's gonna rip off who2013, “Higgs Boson Blues”, in Nick Cave (lyrics), Push the Sky Away, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
1 more example
  • Boyle revives some of the stylistic tics which found themselves being ripped off by geezer-gangster Britflicks back in the day, but now the freezeframes are briefer, sharper; the movie itself refers back to the original with variant flashback versions of famous scenes, but also Super 8-type images of the boys’ poignant boyhood in primary school.2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian:
Derived terms
rip-off, rip off the bandage, rip the band-aid off
Related terms
knock off

rip-off

noun

Etymology Deverbal from rip off.

1

A bad deal; an unfair or exorbitant price or rate.

  • In those days, a hamburger was fifteen cents, and if someone was charging a quarter for a bowl of soup, it was regarded as a rip-off.
  • Eighty-seven bucks for a three-ounce piece of fish? What a rip-off! Haute cuisine or not!
2

A theft or robbery.

  • He noticed that the window was ajar, and right away he knew in his gut that a rip-off had probably occurred.
3

A scam.

  • He promised to mail me a refund, but it was just a rip-off.
4

A copy, especially one that is illegal or inferior.

  • Are you sure that's a real Rolex and not just a cheap rip-off?

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for rip off and rip-off.