cash register

American  

noun

cash registers plural

1. 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.

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cash register British  

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cash registers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cash register

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cash register

Decades before plastic became the default currency at the cash register and Venmo became a verb, pulling out a paper checkbook to pay for weekly groceries was a standard routine in American life.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

Waking up early, pricing items, setting up tables and manning the cash register — all of this is, as you say, labor.

From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026

The viral dust-up is helping McDonald’s where it counts—at the cash register.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

At the cash register, the cashier watched a website that tracked Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions around the region.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025

When it’s busy, I help out at the cash register.

From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline