cash - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


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Cash depicted in the form of coins, banknotes, and moneybags.

From late Middle French caisse (money-box), itself borrowed from Occitan caissa, from Latin capsa (box),[1] ultimately from capiō (take, seize), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (grasp). Doublet of case, chase, and chasse. Compare Spanish caja (box).

cash (usually uncountable, plural cashes)

  1. (uncountable) Money in the form of notes/bills and coins, as opposed to cheques/checks or electronic transactions.

    After you bounced those checks last time, they want to be paid in cash.

    • 1810 July 13, William Cobbett, “To the Reader”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume XVIII, number 1, London: Printed by T[homas] C[urson] Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-Garden, and John Budd, Pall-Mall, published 14 July 1810, →OCLC, columns 13–14:

      When a man bargains for the price of maintaining such or such principles, or of endeavouring to make out such or such a case, without believing in the soundness of the principles or the truth of the case; such a man, whether he touch the cash (or paper-money) before or after the performance of his work, and whether he work with his tongue or his pen, may, I think be fairly charged with seeking after "base lucre;" []

  2. (uncountable, finance) Liquid assets, money that can be traded quickly, as distinct from assets that are invested and cannot be easily exchanged.
    • 2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist[1], volume 408, number 8843, page 68:

      Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries [] .

  3. (uncountable, informal) Money.
    • 2017, Erin Lowry, Broke Millennial[2], page 146:

      Paying yourself first also implies that you have some understanding of your cash flow, which means that, yes, you must set a budget.

  4. (countable, Canada) Cash register, or the counter in a business where the cash register is located.

    Let me just bring these to the cash for you.

    • 2017 December 30, Josh Freed, “Just you wait — technology might be the end of the line”, in Montreal Gazette, page A4, column 2:

      Visit Apple’s jam-packed stores and you won’t see lines at the cash — because every sales clerk is also your cashier, using cellphone card-readers to zip you through.

  5. (countable, gambling) An instance of winning a cash prize.
    • 2012, Jonathan Little, Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 2:

      In the WSOP, I have played around 150 tournaments with one final table, 11 cashes, and a -70 percent ROI.

  6. (countable, archaic) A place where money is kept, or where it is deposited and paid out; a money box.
    • 1787 [1764], Adam Anderson, quoting William Temple, An Historical And Chronological Deduction Of The Origin Of Commerce, From the Earliest Accounts[3], volume 1, page 236:

      This bank [] is properly a general cash, where every man lodges his money,

    • 1852, Theresa Lewis, quoting a letter from John More to Ralph Winwood, Lives of the Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon[4], volume 2, page 321:

      She was said to have amassed a great sum of money for ill use ; 20,000l. are known to be in her cash ;

money in the form of notes/bills and coins

cash (third-person singular simple present cashes, present participle cashing, simple past and past participle cashed)

  1. (transitive) To exchange (a check/cheque) for money in the form of notes/bills.
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 247:

      My single "Lick and Move" had made it to number four on the Top Ten charts, and I had gotten a nice check from Ruthless Rap. I cashed that shit and took Muddah shopping in Midtown and told her to get any damn thing she wanted.

  2. (poker slang) To obtain a payout from a tournament.

cash (comparative more cash, superlative most cash)

  1. (slang) Great; excellent; cool.
  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “cash”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

From Tamil காசு (kācu), via Portuguese caixa.[1]

cash (plural cashes or cash)

  1. Any of several low-denomination coins of India, China, or Vietnam, especially the Chinese copper coin.
  1. ^ Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “CASH”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson [] , London: John Murray, [], page 168.

See cashier.

cash (third-person singular simple present cashes, present participle cashing, simple past and past participle cashed)

  1. To disband. To do away with, kill
    • 1564, Arthur Golding, Abridgment of the histories of Trogus Pompeius:

      He cashed the old souldiers, and supplied their roumes with yong beginners.

From Latin cāseus. Compare Romanian caș.

cash n (plural cãshuri)

  1. cheese

Borrowed from English cash. Doublet of kas.

  • IPA(key): /kɛʃ/
  • Hyphenation: cash

cash m (uncountable)

  1. (informal) cash

cash (invariable, not comparable)

  1. (informal, of money) in coins and bills/notes
    • Heb je cash geld? — Do you have cash?

Borrowed from English cash. Doublet of caisse.

cash

  1. (colloquial) in cash (of paying)
  2. (colloquial) bluntly, directly, straight up

Unadapted borrowing from English cash.

cash n (uncountable)

  1. cash

declension of cash (singular only)

singular
n gender indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) cash cashul
genitive/dative (unui) cash cashului
vocative cashule

cash m (uncountable)

  1. cash

Borrowed from English cash. Attested since 1887.

cash c

  1. (colloquial) cash (money)
    Synonyms: kontanter, stålar, pengar

Slangier in the definite.

Declension of cash 
Uncountable
Indefinite Definite
Nominative cash cashen
Genitive cashs cashens

cash (not comparable)

  1. (colloquial) in cash
    Synonym: kontant

    Jag betalar cash

    I pay in cash