cold hard cash
Meaning: Actual money in coins and bills, not credit or promises.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The collector paid for the painting in cold hard cash.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: "Hard cash" meant coins, as opposed to paper money, from the 18th century; "cold" was added later for emphasis.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: contante y sonante — literally: ready and ringing
- French: Des espèces sonnantes et trébuchantes — literally: Ringing and tipping coin
More idioms — Daily Life
- cherchez la femme — There is probably a woman behind this situation.
- throw money down the drain — To waste money.
- all fired up — Very excited or enthusiastic.
- the oldest trick in the book — A very familiar trick that should not fool anyone.
- at cross purposes — To misunderstand each other or work toward conflicting goals.
- a Bible thumper — A person who is aggressively or tiresomely religious.
More English idioms
- fire in the belly — Strong ambition and drive.
- a slippery slope — A small step that leads to worse and worse consequences.
- snug as a bug in a rug — Very warm and comfortable.
- breathe down someone's neck — To watch someone too closely, or to be close behind them.
- champ at the bit — To be impatient to start.
- one swallow does not make a summer — One good sign does not mean things will continue that way.
From our tongue twisters
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- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. — A relentless 'p' plosive drill; a peck is an old dry measure of about nine litres.
- Unique New York. — Three words that jam the 'y/n/k' sequence together — repeat it and it collapses into 'you…