cold cash —(also: cold hard cash) money in its proper form, as distinguished from checks, etc.:
- A Chinese buyer walked into his atelier and paid cold cash for a monumental statue (which can go for up to a million dollars).
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase cool million—(coll.) a million dollars considered as an asset or a lump sum:
- You can bet he isn’t short on cash now. Each cast member earned a cool million bucks every time another episode of the hit TV show was shot.
hot money—money that is moved by its owner quickly from one form of investment to another:
- Hot money is flowing into Kenya as the country emerges as the latest target for international fund managers looking for high returns.