cold hard cash
Bills and coins
Cold hard cash is physical money—bills and coins you can hold—as opposed to checks, credit, or digital payment.
The phrase emphasizes immediacy and tangibility: They wanted cold hard cash, not promises.
Cold and hard suggest something solid and real, money that can't bounce or be disputed.
- money talksRiches hold influence
- folding moneyPaper bills, not coins
- coinsMetal money units
- purchaseGoods obtained for payment
- legal tenderOfficially recognized payment medium
banknotes · liquidity · bills · payment · assets · greenbacks · monetary value · paper money · ready money · walking around money · under the table · exchange · pennies · capital · sale · wealth · savings · bribe
- money slangbucks, dough, moolah, cheddar, greenbacks
cold hard cashplastic
Capable of being molded
credit card · cryptocurrency · debit card · check · bank transfer
cold hard cashcredit
Recognition or payment deferral
IOUs · promissory notes · deferred payment · accounts receivable · futures
cold hard cashIOU
Written debt acknowledgment
promissory note · credit · empty promises · bounced check · bad check
cold, colder, coldest, coldly, coldness, hard, harder, hardest, hardly