cashier
1 Americannoun
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an employee, as in a market or department store, who collects payments for customer purchases.
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an executive who has charge of money, especially one who superintends monetary transactions, as in a bank.
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an employee of a business establishment who keeps a record of financial transactions.
verb (used with object)
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to dismiss (a military officer) from service, especially with disgrace.
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to discard; reject.
noun
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a person responsible for receiving payments for goods, services, etc, as in a shop
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Also called: teller. an employee of a bank responsible for receiving deposits, cashing cheques, and other financial transactions; bank clerk
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any person responsible for handling cash or maintaining records of its receipt and disbursement
verb
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to dismiss with dishonour, esp from the armed forces
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rare to put away or discard; reject
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cashiersimple
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cashierssimple
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have cashieredperfect
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has cashieredperfect
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am cashieringprogressive
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are cashieringprogressive
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is cashieringprogressive
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have been cashieringperfect progressive
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has been cashieringperfect progressive
Past
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cashieredsimple
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had cashieredperfect
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was cashieringprogressive
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were cashieringprogressive
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had been cashieringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cashier1
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French caissier “custodian of a money-box” (perhaps via Dutch ), equivalent to caisse “money-box” (from Provençal caissa, from Latin capsa “a case”) + -ier noun suffix; see origin at case 2, -ier 2
Origin of cashier2
1570–80; < Middle Dutch kasseren < Middle French casser to break, discharge, annul < Latin quassāre to shatter; see quash
Explanation
A cashier is someone who works at a store ringing up people's purchases. Most cashiers use a cash register for keeping money and making change. Fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and book shops all hire cashiers to scan purchases or manually enter their prices into a register, process the customer's payment, and put the items in bags. In Britain, you can also call a bank teller a cashier. The word is from the Middle French caissier, "treasurer," which comes from caisse, "money box."
Vocabulary lists containing cashier
Material World: Shopping Lingo
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Attention, Shoppers!
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Spelling Practice 2, Unit 7
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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.
See Examples For:
The cashier at the local Chopt admitted to me that foot traffic had slowed significantly this week, even before the smoggy conditions set in.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
He earns $33 an hour as a Costco cashier.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
He worked counting and greeting shoppers entering the front door, then was given a role as a cashier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
He pours the Ditka wine into a plastic cup and unwraps his hoagie, layered with ham and, as the cashier so memorably described it, “limited-time yellow squirt.”
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
She applied to be a waitress, hostess, bartender, cashier, and then waited for job offers that never came, and for this she blamed herself.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In essence, that could mean AI is less like a self-checkout machine, which automates away the need for cashiers, and more like a laser level that helps a surveyor make accurate measurements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Costco trains managers to view cashiers as specialists, experienced employees who can make or break a member’s experience by speeding lines and offering friendly conversation—or not.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Shoppers and cashiers alike are left navigating this maze, unsure whether their next purchase will pass or fail.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2026
Every one of the cashiers had a banking degree, and some of the kitchen workers had engineering Ph.D.s.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2025
My mom and I asked the cashiers in the supermarket, the lady in the dry cleaner’s, and the man in the eye shop across the street if they knew anything about him.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
That’s what Britain did in World War I when it cashiered H.H.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
Not to give away the ending to Titanic here, but none of these incumbents cashiered their vice presidents.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2023
Their last matches came in the Premier League, both having been cashiered from the FA Cup in the third round and therefore sitting it out last weekend.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 9, 2022
A cashiered Army captain goes west as a gambler and covets a miner’s wife while building an empire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2020
That gardener deserves to be cashiered for not getting a move on him in time to catch that man, even if he did think he'd only been swiping flowers.
From The Thousandth Woman by Hornung, Ernest W.
The cashiering of Caldwell is notable because of his relationship with Hegseth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
From students to adults, volunteers staff customer service, cashiering, security and even help to build display booths.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 11, 2021
To a secular layman such as me that sounds like cashiering a general while allowing him to keep his epaulets and continue to run your war.
From New York Times ● May 26, 2016
But donors will hold off cashiering Bush, even if he finishes in the middle of the New Hampshire pack.
From Slate ● Feb. 7, 2016
And I worked at other jobs, small jobs—clerking, typing, cashiering.
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
