Meanings
- uncountableSynonym of cash on the barrelhead.
Cash on the line had to be paid for them cattle.
2012, James Still, Ted Olson, The Hills Remember: The Complete Short Stories of James Still3 more examples
Everything here is cash on the line. You can pay in advance for your room if you like, or you can pay every morning to keep the room that night.
2004, Tabor Evans, Longarm and the Two-Bit PosseOn this lovely day, amid the song of birds and the aroma of coffee, let us take a holy oath not to sell these two crosses except for cash on the line!
2013, Erich Maria Remarque, The Black Obelisk, page 114But one of the boys, who didn't believe in anything either, found it even more convenient to make blood money on you and sold you out to fat policemen—cash on the line.
2014, Victor Serge, Birth of Our Power, page 36Synonyms: cash on the barrelhead
- uncountableCash that is on hand for any expenses.
We'll need some decent equipment and plenty of cash on the line—if only for drugs and a super-sensitive tape recorder, for the sake of a permanent record.
1971, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream1 more example
Many of us are, after all, writers manqué: we too were going to be men of letters once — novelists, columnists, editors — men whose words would change the world, men whose words would even mean cash on the line.
1988, Wayne C. Booth, The Vocation of a Teacher: Rhetorical Occasions, 1967-1988 - uncountableUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see cash, on the line.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of cash on the barrelhead.
Cite this entry
cash on the line. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cash%20on%20the%20line
“cash on the line.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cash%20on%20the%20line. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cash on the line,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cash%20on%20the%20line.
Source: cash on the line on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.