barrelhead

American  

[bar-uhl-hed] / ˈbær əlˌhɛd /

noun

1. either of the round, flat sections that form the top and bottom of a barrel.

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idioms

1. on the barrelhead, in advance or on demand.

   They won't deliver the merchandise unless we pay cash on the barrelhead.

Etymology

Origin of barrelhead

First recorded in 1830–40; barrel + head

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barrelhead

Many U.S. businessmen preferred to export products to Iran or to provide services in exchange for cash on the barrelhead.

From Time Magazine Archive

From five bids for the Stevens it chose to take $5,251,000 cash on the barrelhead from Arnold Kirkaby, who already owns Chicago's Drake and Blackstone Hotels.

From Time Magazine Archive

He knows that a public debt of $137,000,000,000 cannot be merely whooshed away by wishful thinking; that some time someone must put cash down on the barrelhead.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thereafter no belligerent may buy arms in the U. S. without paying cash on the barrelhead.

From Time Magazine Archive

She paid for the whole thing cash on the barrelhead!

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis