rip off

rip off

1. To pull off by ripping
2. (idiomatic) to steal, cheat or swindle. Especially to charge an exorbitant or unfair rate

   I can't believe how the car dealerships try to rip off their customers.

   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian‎:

     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.

3. (idiomatic) to copy, especially illegally

   They ripped off the whole idea from their competitors.

   • 2017 January 19, Peter Bradshaw, “T2 Trainspotting review – choose a sequel that doesn't disappoint”, in the Guardian‎:

     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.

• rip-off

• knock off