Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cash, rather than cheques etc.

1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 964/2: —1935.
1953		B. Behan Scarperer (1966) 37: I know you’ve a lot of form and I know what you’d get, but have you the readies outside?
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 43: Having plenty of the readies, I shouted [...] ‘A pint of stout myself.’.
1978		F. Norman Dead Butler Caper 103: Yuh don’t ’ave to worry about a fing, so long as I’m around [...] Readies nor anything.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 48: The lighting men [...] either wanted Chinese take-aways flown out from England or enormous extra payments ‘in readies’.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 88: Nothin to it. Miteswell give it a punt. We’re both short a the readies.
1989		in G. Tremlett Little Legs 12: I’ve done that a million times, always for readies.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] Warren made out he was having a mild heart attack when he saw Les produce the readies.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 100: They do go mad for a bit of filth down here. And they’ve got the readies to get it too.
2005		H. Mantel Beyond Black 205: He took me readies and scarpered. Left me high and dry, dead.
2007		D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 13: He did not know where the King got to the readies to afford a private room.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 12: I woulda kept my readies under the mattress.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] Mollinson [i.e. a bookmaker] had [...] taken a bath. He had no readies.