cash cow

noun

1
: a consistently profitable business, property, or product whose profits are used to finance a company's investments in other areas
2
: one regarded or exploited as a reliable source of money
a singer deemed a cash cow for the record label

Examples of cash cow in a Sentence

The football team was a cash cow for the university. The movie studio saw the actress as a cash cow.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Amazon has taken the crown from Walmart, reaching $717 billion in revenue thanks in large part to its cloud-services cash cow, Amazon Web Services. Alyson Shontell, Fortune, 8 June 2026 That stands in contrast to the Nasdaq, which has already moved to fast-track SpaceX's inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 index, leading to concerns that new retail investors could become the cash cow of exit liquidity for legacy SpaceX shareholders. Katie Foley, CNBC, 5 June 2026 At the time, teen powerhouses like Aaliyah, Brandy, and Monica were blowing up the charts and Interscope was hoping Mýa could be their own proverbial cash cow. Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 18 May 2026 No doubt, watching TV live is becoming a thing of the past, and the glitzy nightly talk show that used to be a network cash cow has become a trickier economic proposition. David Sims, The Atlantic, 15 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for cash cow

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of cash cow was in 1972

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cash cow.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cash%20cow. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.

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