Слово "extortionate". Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

"Love-cycle," the latter receiving serial publication in the Ladies’ Home Companion after the payment of an extortionate price.

Seven years in the Army and seven years in the camp, twice seven years, twice that mythical or biblical term, and then to be deprived of the ability to tell what is a man and what is a woman - is not such a price extortionate?             I wouldn't have hesitated for a minute, I'd have quarrelled with them and left long ago, but then I'd lose their certificate, the great Goddess Certificate! The komendant or security chief may want to send me another three hundred kilometres into the desert tomorrow. I can stop that happening so long as I have my certificate. Please, sir, I'm in need of constant observation and medical treatment, sir I Thank you, sir I Get an old prisoner to give up his medical certificate? It's unthinkable!             So once more I have to be cunning, pretend, deceive, drag things out - and one gets so sick of it after a lifetime! (Incidentally, too much cunning makes one tired and prone to error. I brought everything down on my head with that letter from the Omsk lab. assistant I asked you to send me. I handed it in. They seized it, wove it into my case history, and when it was too late I realized how the doctor in charge had deceived me about it. Now she can be confident about giving me hormone treatment, whereas otherwise she would probably have had doubts.)             When I get back to Ush-Terek I'll give my tumour another pummelling with that mandrake root from Issyk-Kul, just to make sure it doesn't start throwing secondaries about. There's something noble about treating oneself with a strong poison. Poison doesn't pretend to be a harmless medicine, it tells you straight out, 'I'm poison! Watch out! Or else!' So we know what we're in for.