cash on the nail
Meaning: Payment made immediately.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The dealer wants cash on the nail, no checks.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: British English from the 16th century. A popular story links it to bronze pillars ("nails") outside the Bristol exchange where merchants paid, but those pillars are later than the phrase, so the origin is uncertain.
Equivalents in other languages
- French: Payer rubis sur l'ongle — literally: To pay ruby on the nail
More idioms — Daily Life
- move the needle — To make a noticeable difference.
- have a few tricks up one's sleeve — To have secret plans or resources in reserve.
- so near and yet so far — Close to something one wants but unable to reach it.
- cast the first stone — To be the first to condemn someone.
- steal a march on — To gain an advantage by acting before someone else.
- throw someone under the bus — To betray or blame someone to save oneself.
More English idioms
- in two shakes of a lamb's tail — Very quickly.
- a Procrustean bed — A rigid standard forced on everything, whatever the damage.
- a Sisyphean task — An endless, futile task.
- jam tomorrow — A promise of good things in the future that never arrive.
- a rolling stone gathers no moss — Someone who keeps moving never settles or accumulates anything; sometimes also, keeping a…
- little strokes fell great oaks — Small, steady efforts achieve great results.
From our tongue twisters
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- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.