cold cash
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- Immediately available money in physical form: "Cold cash" refers to money that exists as physical currency (banknotes and coins) and is readily on hand for immediate use in a transaction, without the need for credit, checks, or electronic transfer.
Usage
- The term emphasizes the immediacy, tangibility, and certainty of payment. It is often used in contexts where a seller demands or a buyer offers payment in physical money to avoid the risks or delays associated with other payment methods.
- It is typically used with verbs like pay (with), have, offer, demand, hand over.
Examples
Advanced Usage
- "Cold hard cash": A more emphatic variant with the same meaning, stressing the physical, unyielding nature of the money.
- He prefers to be paid in cold hard cash for his freelance work.
Variants and Related Words
- Ready cash / Readies (informal, chiefly British): Money immediately available for use.
- I don't have enough ready cash for such a large purchase.
- Cash on the barrelhead (chiefly US, idiomatic): Immediate payment in cash at the time of purchase.
- It's cash on the barrelhead for these antiques.
Synonyms
- Hard cash: Physical money, especially when emphasizing its reliability.
- Spot cash: Cash paid immediately at the "spot" where a deal is made.
- Legal tender: Coins or banknotes that must be accepted if offered in payment of a debt.
Related Idioms
- To pay cash on the nail: To pay immediately in cash.
- He bought the painting and paid cash on the nail.
- Cash-and-carry: A system where goods are paid for in cash and taken away by the purchaser.
- It's a cash-and-carry wholesale warehouse.
Noun
- money in the form of cash that is readily available
- his wife was always a good source of ready cash
- he paid cold cash for the TV set