Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to die; thus cashed in, dead.

1887		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: To die is to [...] ‘cash in.’.
1888		Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 28 Oct. 14/5: I suppose I’ll ‘cash in’ pretty soon, and i don’t care how soon it is.
1897		A.H. Lewis Wolfville 6: In honor of the dead an’ to mark the occasion of his cashin’ in.
1907		R. Service ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ in Songs of a Sourdough 36: He turned to me, and, ‘Cap,’ says he, ‘I’ll cash in this trip, I guess.’.
1914		H. Kemp ‘Cashing In’ in Cry of Youth 75: O, my chum cashed in like a feeble match quenched by a gust of wind.
1925		(con. WWI) Fraser & Gibbons Soldier and Sailor Words 48: Cashed In: Finished. Dead. From card slang: To cash in one’s ‘chips’ at the end of a game and settle up.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 128: I had seen three of the cleverest in the business [i.e. crime] cash in with their boots on.
1930		G. Milburn ‘The Hobo’s Last Ride’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 132: One day you made me promise, Jack, / If I lived when you cashed in, / That I’d take you back and bury you / In the churchyard with your kin.
1942		N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 130: Whyn’t you have him finger me, before he cashed in?
1952		W.D. Overholser Fabulous Gunman 102: I ain’t gonna do no bawling if he cashes in.
1961		T.I. Rubin In the Life 85: She [...] went into shock, they said, and cashed in.
1972		C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 414: Before I cash in I hope to make it in the straw.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 73: I said, ‘Who cashed in?’ He said, ‘Pretty Opal.’.

2. to settle up one’s accounts or debts, esp. in card-playing; to hand over bribes.

1896		Ade Artie (1963) 30: If you’re stuck on him I’ll cash in right here and drop out o’ the game.
1902		Ade Forty Modern Fables 160: After the others Cashed In, he didn’t have any Money with which to redeem his own Checks.
1917		‘A-No. 1’ From Coast to Coast with Jack London 34: He’s merely cashing in less, by far, than that which by rights he so richly deserved for attempting to ruin your chances in life, lads!
1929		Illinois Association for Criminal Justice et al. Illinois Crime Survey 855: In January, 1917, a notebook containing the names of shady hotels and the rates of weekly graft was found in the pocket of Lieutenant White of the Lake Street station [...] There was [a] list headed, ‘Can be raided’; and this was taken to mean the places which had not ‘cashed in’.

3. to give up, to accept the situation.

1911		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 Days 169: ‘I’ll bet he’s cashed in by this time.’ ‘Cashed nothing! Them fellers don’t.’.
1964		H.S. Thompson letter 15 Nov. in Proud Highway (1997) 471: I’ll cash in and cool off till the next session.

4. to make a profit, to exploit; often as cash in on.

1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 16: Well, dash it, with a thing like to give you a send-off, why didn’t you cash in immediately?
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 309: When my old man got on the dole [...] you can bet he tried to cash in on me.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 287: The mob decided to cash in on a run-down ex-champion.
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 9: Those who tried to cash in by spoofing our revelations.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 35: When rock came in and R&B was acceptable, the fat man very quickly cashed in.
1979		J. Morrow Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole 39: An uppercrust pop-novelist who had lived with drug-addicted, black homos in some sewer and cashed in on the experience.
1984		C. White Life and Times of Little Richard 84: Columbia Pictures rushed out a follow-up, cashing in on teenagers’ desperate hunger to see their heroes perform.
1999		Indep. Mag. 29 May 12: Accusations of cashing in on Lennon’s memory were met with perfect self-possession.
2000		Guardian Rev. 25 Feb. 27: The ads are accompanied by national re-release campaigns to cash in on the intensive Oscar coverage.
2012		S. Blass Pirate for Life 158: I just had to be sure to keep it away from the middle of the plate. A guy like Boog [Powell] would cash in on a mistake like that.

5. to stop arguing or prevaricating, to confess.

1937

P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 95: Quit stallin’ an’ cash in.