English
box
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /bɒks/
  • (GA) enPR bäks, IPA: /bɑks/
Noun

box (plural boxes) (computing)

  1. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space.
    1. A cuboid#Adjective|cuboid space; a cuboid container, often with a hinged#Adjective|hinged lid.
      • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801 ↗, page 55 ↗:
        A terrible voice in the hall cried, "Bring down Master Scrooge's box, there!" and in the hall appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescension, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind by shaking hands with him.
      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “The Elopers”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, OCLC 483591931 ↗, page 33 ↗:
        The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
    2. A cuboid container and its content#Noun|contents; as much as fill#Verb|fills such a container.
      a box of books
      • 1719 April 24, [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Taylor […], OCLC 15864594 ↗; 3rd edition, London: Printed by W[illiam] Taylor […], 1719, OCLC 838630407 ↗, page 325 ↗:
        He brought me also a Box of Sugar, a Box of Flour, a Bag full of Lemons, and two Bottles of Lime-juice, and abundance of other Things: {{...}
    3. A compartment (as a drawer) of an item of furniture used for storage, such as a cupboard, a shelf, etc.
    4. A compartment or receptacle for receiving items.
      post box  post office box
      1. A numbered#Adjective|numbered receptacle at a newspaper office for anonymous reply#Noun|replies to advertisements.
    5. A compartment to sit#Verb|sit inside in an auditorium, courtroom, theatre or other building#Noun|building.
    6. The driver's seat#Noun|seat on a horse-drawn coach#Noun|coach.
    7. A small rectangular shelter#Noun|shelter; a booth.
      sentry-box
      • 1762, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume VI, London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, […], OCLC 959921544 ↗, page 95 ↗:
        [M]y uncle Toby […] treated himſelf with a handſome ſentry-box, to ſtand at the corner of the bowling-green, betwixt which point and the foot of the glacis, there was left a little kind of eſplanade for him and the corporal to confer and hold councils of war upon. / —The ſentry-box was in caſe of rain.
    8. Short for horsebox#English|horsebox (“container for transport#Verb|transporting horse#Noun|horses”).
      • 1877, Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], OCLC 228733457 ↗, part II, page 101 ↗:
        He was a fine-looking middle-aged man, and his voice said at once that he expected to be obeyed. He was very friendly and polite to John, and after giving us a slight look, he called a groom to take us to our boxes, and invited John to take some refreshment.
    9. (rail) Short for signal box#English|signal box.
    10. (figuratively) A predicament or trap#Noun|trap.
      I’m really in a box now.
    11. (slang) A prison cell.
      • 1951, William S. Burroughs, in Harris (ed.), Letters 1945–59, Penguin 2009, p. 98:
        While sojourning in the box I was greatly impressed by the kindness and decency of the Mexican people.
      1. (slang) A cell used for solitary confinement.
        Synonyms: hole
        • 2003, Elayne Rapping, Law and Justice as Seen on TV (page 83)
          He is fearless and contemptuous, apparently able to withstand any discipline—including nights “in the box” […]
        • 2009, ‎Megan McLemore, Barred from Treatment
          He had been in disciplinary confinement (“the box”)—punishment reserved for serious prison offenses—for 14 months.
        • 2020, Erin Hatton, Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment (page 89)
          […] he explained, “you can go to the box. So, I got a ticket for refusing an order and I went to the box in that situation. […]
    12. (euphemistic) A coffin.
    13. (slang) Preceded by the: television.
    14. (slang, vulgar) The vagina.
    15. (computing, slang) A computer, or the case#Noun|case in which it is house#Verb|housed.
      a UNIX box
    16. (cricket) A hard protector for the genitals worn inside the underpants by a batsman or close#Adjective|close fielder.
    17. (engineering) A cylindrical casing#Noun|casing around the axle of a wheel#Noun|wheel, a bearing#Noun|bearing, a gland, etc.
    18. (fencing) A device used in electric fencing#Noun|fencing to detect whether a weapon has strike#Verb|struck an opponent, which connects to a fencer's weapon by a spool#Noun|spool and body wire. It uses light#Noun|lights and sound#Noun|sound to notify a hit#Noun|hit, with different coloured#Adjective|coloured lights for on target and off target hits.
    19. (dated) A small country house.
      • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.vi.9:
        “I dare say the sheriff, or the mayor and corporation, or some of those sort of people, would give him money enough, for the use of it, to run him up a mighty pretty neat little box somewhere near Richmond.”
      • 1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 1029672464 ↗, page 282 ↗:
        Suburban villas, highway-ſide retreats, / That dread th' encroachment of our growing ſtreets, / Tight boxes, neatly ſaſh'd, and in a blaze / With all a July ſun's collected rays, / Delight the citizen, who gaſping there, / Breathes clouds of duſt and calls it country air.
  2. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space
    1. A rectangle: an oblong#Noun|oblong or a square#Noun|square.
      Place a tick in the box.
      This text would stand out better if we put it in a coloured box.
    2. (baseball) The rectangle in which the batter#Noun 3|batter stand#Verb|stands.
    3. (genetics) One of two specific regions in a promoter.
    4. (juggling) A pattern usually performed with three ball#Noun|balls where the movements of the balls make a boxlike shape#Noun|shape.
    5. (lacrosse, informal) Short for box lacrosse#English|box lacrosse (“indoor form of lacrosse”).
    6. (soccer) The penalty area.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: cabina
  • Russian: каби́на
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: scatola, scatola del cambio
  • Russian: бокс
Translations Translations Verb

box (boxes, present participle boxing; past and past participle boxed)

  1. (transitive) To place#Verb|place inside a box; to pack#Verb|pack in one or more boxes.
  2. (transitive) Usually followed by in: to surround and enclose in a way that restricts movement; to corner#Verb|corner, to hem in.
  3. (transitive) To mix#Verb|mix two containers of paint#Noun|paint of similar colour#Noun|colour to ensure that the color is identical.
  4. (transitive, agriculture) To make an incision or hole#Noun|hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap#Noun|sap.
  5. (transitive, architecture) To enclose with boarding#Noun|boarding, lathing#Noun|lathing, etc., so as to conceal (for example, pipe#Noun|pipes) or to bring to a required form#Noun|form.
  6. (transitive, engineering) To furnish (for example, the axle of a wheel#Noun|wheel) with a box.
  7. (transitive, graphic design, printing) To enclose (image#Noun|images, text#Noun|text, etc.) in a box.
  8. (transitive, object-oriented programming) To place a value#Noun|value of a primitive type into a corresponding object#Noun|object.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Noun

box (plural boxes)

  1. Any of various evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Buxus, especially the common box, European box, or boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) which is often used for making hedge#Noun|hedges and topiary.
    • 1847 October 15, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter V, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], OCLC 3163777 ↗, pages 130–131 ↗:
      He strayed down a walk edged with box; with apple trees, pear trees, and cherry trees on one side, and a border on the other, full of all sorts of old-fashioned flowers, stocks, sweet-williams, primroses, pansies, mingled with southernwood, sweet-briar, and various fragrant herbs.
  2. The wood from a box tree: boxwood.
  3. (musical instrument, slang) A musical instrument, especially one made from boxwood.
  4. (Australia) An evergreen tree of the genus Lophostemon (for example, the box scrub, Brisbane box, brush box, pink box, or Queensland box, Lophostemon confertus).
  5. (Australia) Various species of Eucalyptus trees are popularly called various kinds of boxes, on the basis of the nature of their wood, bark, or appearance for example, the drooping (Eucalyptus bicolor), shiny-leaved (Eucalyptus tereticornis), black, or ironbark box trees.
Translations Noun

box (plural boxes)

  1. A blow#Noun|blow with the fist#Noun|fist.
    • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene ii], page 166 ↗:
      That he hath a neighbourly charitie in him, for he borrowed a boxe of the eare of the Engliſhman, and ſwore he would pay him againe when hee was able : I thinke the Frenchman became his ſuretie, and ſeald vnder for another.
    • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Bold Dragoon, or The Adventure of My Grandfather”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], OCLC 864083 ↗, page 62 ↗:
      And then he whispered something to the girl which made her laugh, and give him a good-humoured box on the ear.
    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “Oliver Continues Refractory”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 558204586 ↗, page 110 ↗:
      "Now, you are a nice young fellow, ain't you?" said Sowerberry, giving Oliver a shake and a box on the ear.
Synonyms Translations Verb

box (boxes, present participle boxing; past and past participle boxed)

  1. (transitive) To strike#Verb|strike with the fist#Noun|fists; to punch#Verb|punch.
    box someone’s ears
    Leave this place before I box you!
    • 1847 October 15, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter IV, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], OCLC 3163777 ↗, pages 42–43 ↗:
      Mrs. Reed soon rallied her spirits: she shook me most soundly, she boxed both my ears, and then left me without a word.
  2. (transitive, boxing) To fight#Verb|fight against (a person) in a boxing#Noun|boxing match#Noun|match.
  3. (intransitive, boxing) To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.
Translations Translations Translations Noun

box (plural boxes)

  1. (dated) A Mediterranean food fish of the genus Boops, which is a variety of sea bream; a bogue or oxeye.
Translations
  • French: boga
Box
Proper noun
  1. Surname
  2. A village in Minchinhampton, south of (OS grid ref SO8600).
  3. A village near Corsham (OS grid ref ST8268).


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