cash¹ (kăsh)
n.

1. Money in the form of bills or coins; currency.
2. Payment for goods or services in currency or by check.

tr.v., cashed, cash·ing, cash·es.
To exchange for or convert into ready money: cash a check; cash in one's gambling chips.

phrasal verbs:

cash in

1. To withdraw from a venture by or as if by settling one's account.
2. Informal. To obtain a profit or other advantage by timely exploitation: Profiteers cashed in during the gasoline shortage.
3. Slang. To die.

cash out

1. To dispose of a long-held asset for profit: Hard-pressed farmers are tempted to cash out by selling their valuable land.

idiom:

cash on the barrelhead

1. Immediate payment: You must pay cash on the barrelhead; we don't offer credit.

[Obsolete French casse, money box (from Norman French; see case²) or from Italian cassa (from Latin capsa, case).]

cashless cash'less adj.

cash² (kăsh)
n., pl., cash.
Any of various Asian coins of small denomination, especially a copper and lead coin with a square hole in its center.

[Portuguese caixa, from Tamil kācu, a small coin.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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