cash cow

Related to cash cow: Bcg matrix

cash cow

A business or investment that generates a large or consistent profit. When Bob purchased stock in that software company 10 years ago, he never expected it to become such a cash cow. Now that it has quadrupled in value, he'll be able to retire early.
See also: cash, cow
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

cash cow

A dependable source of profit, as in The small-appliance division is this company's cash cow. Although this precise term dates only from about 1970, milch cow was used in exactly the same way from 1601.
See also: cash, cow
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

a cash cow

If you call someone or something a cash cow, you mean that it makes a lot of money. This rather unglamorous property is a cash cow, generating about $700 million a year in advertising revenue. A player like Rooney is a potential cash cow to dozens. Note: The reference is to something that produces money as freely as a cow produces milk.
See also: cash, cow
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

cash cow

n. a dependable source of money; a good investment. Mr. Wilson turned out to be the cash cow we needed to start our repertoire company.
See also: cash, cow
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • a cash cow
  • (that) works for me!
  • cheaper by the dozen
  • Give me a rest!
  • haul
  • a prime mover
  • prime mover
  • a nine days' wonder
  • nine days' wonder
  • a wonder lasts but nine days
References in periodicals archive
Huboo's brand new Bristol based specialist fulfilment warehousing allows Vintage Cash Cow to continue scaling at speed without having to worry about core efficiencies.
"Look in old tins, especially rusty old tobacco tins", explains Antony Charman, co-founder of Vintage Cash Cow. Make sure you also look in old boxes, tool drawers, sheds, old toy boxed and piggy banks.
But you can expect the landfill companies to fight this vehemently, because C&D has long been a cash cow for them as they divert it away from legitimate recyclers," Turley adds.
Using such machines when demand is high simply means that the unit is a cash cow and a license to print money.
While your firm has faced some competition, none of the other local accounting firms has had the resources to challenge you in the technology field and it's become the business's lucrative cash cow.
Who cares how many packets 505i users generate so long as they actually buy one of these babies and make lots of voice calls, which are still the cash cow for DoCoMo.
But dividends for cash cow Microsoft are easy: The company doesn't need to sink all of its earnings into R&D or acquisitions.
"The government is using the 7(a) and 504 programs as a cash cow to fund other programs as opposed to charging enough to meet the needs of the programs themselves," says Manzullo.
Punch-Drunk's high/low high jinks are immediately apparent, pairing Hollywood's lowbrow cash cow Sandler with Lars von Trier alumna Emily Watson and mingling a nonprofessional supporting cast with the artiest mise-en-scene of Anderson's career, including abstract digital animation sequences by New York-based artist Jeremy Blake.
Ever thought of your mailing list as a cash cow? Better start now, advises Peter Candito, president of CC3 List/Database Management and Brokerage, based in Ivyland, Pa.
With 1402 as the watershed year in which the effects of mountain peasant revolts finally had their desired effect, Florence went from seeing the mountain highlands as a cash cow only fit to serve its financial needs and dicatates to seeing the area as an integral and even necessary part of the Florentine state, especially in light of the various wars that swirled around the Florentine borders.
Ed Towey, spokesman for the Florida Health Care Association, says: "Trial lawyers have found their latest cash cow in the nursing home industry.
The threat of withdrawing tax credits for American productions is a great worry to the industry in British Columbia, but less so in Toronto and Montreal, where indigenous Canadian production flourishes; although, no one in the industry would welcome a withdrawal of the American cash cow. The oddest thing about Copps's proposals is the idea that Canadian feature films can somehow achieve a 10 per cent ownership of their own screens.
Denis had ended, and this also had killed their cash cow, Denishawn (1915-1931), the first American institution to combine performance and touring with a school.
In the process, they gained a PS155,000 boost compared to the previous 12 months, nearly double the PS79,000 initially budgeted for by the cashstrapped authority, leading to accusations that the motorists parking in the town were being used as a "cash cow".