"cheap at half the price" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Deliberate transformation of a street trader's cry, cheap at twice the price (informing customers that what he was selling would still be cheap even if it cost twice as much), into cheap at half the price which would imply that the price was excessive.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "cheap at half the price",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Gordon Hughes, Hard Drive!: As the Disc Turns, page 76:",
          "text": "After breakfast, Shirley and Gordon walked down the street to a shopping mall to look at fancy clothes and high priced jewelry. \"Cheap at half the price,\" Gordon observed. Shirley smiled.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Quite expensive."
      ],
      "id": "en-cheap_at_half_the_price-en-phrase-4STzJ2mq",
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) Quite expensive."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 92",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "3 97",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, Roy Holland, C. H. Muller, Flakes of Dark and Light: Tales from Southern Africa and Elsewhere, page 110:",
          "text": "After he'd convinced you you'd only got one leg – the left – he'd sell you a gross of right-footed shoes. \"Cheap at half the price! A real bargain.\" Afterwards, you'd feel you'd been done a favour to, and obligingly walk off with a limp.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Satisfactorily cheap."
      ],
      "id": "en-cheap_at_half_the_price-en-phrase-RW1g7atD",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(from misunderstanding) Satisfactorily cheap."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "from misunderstanding"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cheap at half the price"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrases",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Deliberate transformation of a street trader's cry, cheap at twice the price (informing customers that what he was selling would still be cheap even if it cost twice as much), into cheap at half the price which would imply that the price was excessive.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "cheap at half the price",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English humorous terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2007, Gordon Hughes, Hard Drive!: As the Disc Turns, page 76:",
          "text": "After breakfast, Shirley and Gordon walked down the street to a shopping mall to look at fancy clothes and high priced jewelry. \"Cheap at half the price,\" Gordon observed. Shirley smiled.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Quite expensive."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "humorous",
          "humorous"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(humorous) Quite expensive."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "humorous"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2001, Roy Holland, C. H. Muller, Flakes of Dark and Light: Tales from Southern Africa and Elsewhere, page 110:",
          "text": "After he'd convinced you you'd only got one leg – the left – he'd sell you a gross of right-footed shoes. \"Cheap at half the price! A real bargain.\" Afterwards, you'd feel you'd been done a favour to, and obligingly walk off with a limp.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Satisfactorily cheap."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(from misunderstanding) Satisfactorily cheap."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "from misunderstanding"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "cheap at half the price"
}