English

Alternative forms

• small unmarked bills

Noun

small, unmarked bills pl ‎(plural only)

1. (set phrase) Paper currency which consists of small-denomination banknotes that have not been inscribed with hidden markings which would help authorities identify and trace them.
   • 1968 Jan. 22, Alfred Wright, "Johnny Bags A Winner's Pott," Sports Illustrated (retrieved 2 Aug 2014):

     Claude Harmon, the former Masters champion, immediately withdrew from the tournament with the booming declaration, "I wouldn't play that course again if they gave me $5,000 in small unmarked bills."

   • 1994 June 12, Pat H. Broeske, "Film: Death is Hard . . . Reincarnation Is Easy," New York Times (retrieved 2 Aug 2014):

     THE MOVIE "Speed". . . . WHAT HE WANTS $3.7 million in small, unmarked bills. OR ELSE A bomb on the bus will be detonated.

   • 1998, Suzanne Brockmann, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, ISBN 9781426806155 (2007 edition), p. 181 (Google preview):

     "[I]f the commander wants all the dirt I've already uncovered, and all the dirt I'm going to uncover about him to stay neatly under the rug, then he's going to have to pay. Two hundred and fifty thousand in small, unmarked bills."

   • 2002 Oct. 27, Lev Grossman, "Busjacking for Grownups," Time (retrieved 2 Aug 2014):

     Vice City is . . . a steaming Cuban sandwich of sultry Latin sirens, drug deals gone bad and seedy mobsters with big metal briefcases full of small unmarked bills.

Usage notes

• Often used to refer to the money demanded by a bank robber, extortionist, or kidnapper.
• Also used, by extension and sometimes humorously, to refer to readily spendable cash obtained by any illicit or somewhat questionable means.