cash

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cash1

▶noun money in coins or notes.

■ money in any form as an available resource.

▶verb

• 1 give or obtain notes or coins for (a cheque or money order).

• 2 (cash something in or N. Amer. cash out) convert an insurance policy, savings account, etc. into money.

  ■ (cash in on) informal take advantage of or exploit (a situation).

• 3 (cash up) Brit. count and check takings at the end of a day's trading.

– phrases
cash and carry a system of wholesale trading whereby goods are paid for in full at the time of purchase and taken away by the purchaser.
cash in one's chips informal die.
cash in hand Brit. payment in cash rather than by cheque or other means.
cash on delivery the system of paying for goods when they are delivered.

– derivatives
cashable adjective,
cashless adjective.

– origin C16 (denoting a box for money): from OFr. casse or Ital. cassa ‘box’, from L. capsa (see case2).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cash2

▶noun (pl. same) historical a coin of low value from China, southern India, or SE Asia.

– origin C16: from Port. caixa, from Tamil kāsu, influenced by cash1.