rip off

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rip off (plural rip offs)

1. Misspelling of rip-off.

rip off (third-person singular simple present rips off, present participle ripping off, simple past and past participle ripped 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