cash register

American

noun

a business machine that indicates to customers the amounts of individual sales, has a money drawer from which to make change, records and totals receipts, and may automatically calculate the change due.

cash register British

noun

a till with a keyboard that operates a mechanism for displaying and adding the amounts of cash received in individual sales

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cash register

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They agreed to pay half a cent more at the cash register to fund buses, trains and pothole fillings in 2016.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

The car business is the cash register that funds the empire.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 15, 2026

The finish line isn’t moral resolution, but the banality of the cash register: a product governed where it matters most, at the point of sale.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

Now they’re changing the currency on the cash register.

From MarketWatch • Dec. 16, 2025

“There’s a fishbowl by the cash register where you can put your business card for a chance to win a free lunch. Half the cards are from Sinclair people.”

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023