to cost an arm and a leg
Eu adoraria comprar uma Ferrari, mas elas custam os olhos da cara.
I'd love to buy a Ferrari, but they cost an arm and a leg.
A popular story links the expression to the Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro, who lost an eye in a clash at Pueblo Quemado in the 16th century. The story attributes the image of an eye as the price of defending the Crown to him; it does not establish the expression’s origin. The eyes, among the body’s most precious things, thus serve as the measure of a ruinous price.
Source: O Povo. Memoria Chilena.
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