Word: box Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Ancient Greek πῠ́ξος (pŭ́xos) Ancient Greek -ῐς (-ĭs) Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís)bor. Late Latin buxisbor. Proto-West Germanic *buhsā Old English box Middle English box English box From Middle English box (“container, box, cup”), from Old English box (“box, case”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhsā (“box”) from Late Latin buxis (“box”), Latin pyxis (“small box for medicines or toiletries”), of uncertain origin; compare Ancient Greek πυξίς (puxís, “box or tablet made of boxwood; box; cylinder”) and πύξος (púxos, “box tree; boxwood”). Doublet of piseog, pyx, and pyxis. Cognate with Middle Dutch bosse, busse (“jar; tin; round box”) (modern Dutch bos (“wood, forest”), bus (“container, box; bushing of a wheel”)), Old High German buhsa (Middle High German buhse, bühse, modern German Büchse (“box; can”)), Swedish bössa (“box”). The humorous plural form boxen is from box + -en, by analogy with oxen. (motor racing): Used since it is more distinct over the radio compared to pit. Also from German Boxenstopp (“pit stop”). Pronunciation: /bɒks/, /bɑks/ 1. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: 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. Example: 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. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: a box of books Example: 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. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. 4. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: post box post office box Example: She'd picked up the high-tech phone from a post office box in Toronto a month ago. The key to that box had been mailed to a post office box in New York City. The Russians loved their cloak-and-dagger, particularly former KGB and Spetsnaz, Soviet special forces who ran the mafia, […] 5. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: Add five words for address if replies are to come to a box number address at any of our offices. These replies are forwarded each day as received, in new envelopes at no extra charge. […] When replying to blind ads be careful to put on your envelope the correct box number and do not enclose original letters of recommendation—send copies. 6. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: There is yet a better manner of arranging the boxes; and for which invention we are indebted to Andrea Sighizzi, the ſcholar of [Francesco] Brizio and Dentone; […] The plan he followed was, that the boxes, according as they were to be removed from the ſtage towards the bottom of the theatre, ſhould continue gradually riſing by ſome inches one above the other, and gradually receding to the ſides by ſome inches; by which means, every box would have a more commodious view of the ſtage; […] Example: One night he proposed a champagne supper, to which, he said he had invited a friend of his. I consented without hesitation, and soon after we proceeded to an eating house and seating ourselves in a private box, ordered supper. 7. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: Next in importance to the Dvornik comes the coachman of a Russian household. He is usually chosen for his fatness and the length of his beard. These seem curious reasons for choosing a coachman in a country where coach-boxes are smaller than anywhere else in the world; but whereas the average breadth of a Russian coach-box is scarcely more than twelve inches at the outside, the average breadth of a Russian coachman is a very different affair. 8. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: sentry-box Example: [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. 9. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: 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. 10. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: They were capable of climbing most hills in second low but for this exercise we decided to go for the bottom of the box, just to be sure. 11. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: Thinkin' like Roddy, got a stick in the box (Roddy) Hide in another car, we just blickin' the opps (Bah) 12. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis Example: Sparks from the derailed bogie of the train were first noticed by the signalman at Slough West box, who immediately sent to Slough Middle box the "Stop and Examine" signal, followed at once by "Obstruction Danger" when he realised that the coach was derailed. 13. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: figuratively Example: I’m really in a box now. Example: He was going straight for the jugular. "Joe, this didn't make me afraid. I've done rescues before." / "Then you'll have no problem saying yes." / Her eyes narrowed. He was putting her in a box and doing it deliberately. There were times when his kind of leadership made her cringe. 14. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang 15. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang Example: I am in what you call 'the box' confined to a 'special' housing unit for punishment because I stabbed some guys who call they self godly and are always beaten up on gays and she males because they hate homosexuals. Example: He is fearless and contemptuous, apparently able to withstand any discipline—including nights “in the box” […] 16. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: euphemistic Example: Prior to the explosion we spoke about what would happen if he [Lance-Corporal James Simpson] died and came back in a box and what music he would want at his funeral. 17. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang Example: Mr. Wormwood switched on the television. The screen lit up. The programme blared. Mr Wormwood glared at Matilda. She hadn't moved. She had somehow trained herself by now to block her ears to the ghastly sound of the dreaded box. She kept right on reading, and for some reason this infuriated the father. 18. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang, vulgar Example: Without warning, he withdrew his finger and drove his tongue inside her creamy, hot box. She gave a sharp intake of breath. 19. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang Example: a UNIX box Example: i can't seem to find any how-to regarding connecting a terminal to a linux boxen via parallel port … 20. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: slang Example: Joshua Newman, until last month a co-owner of CrossFit NYC, which says it is the world's largest box, recalled a member in the gym's early days who was nicknamed "Welcoming Committee." Example: Ter Kuile says people will sometimes bring their kids to their CrossFit "box," which is CrossFit for "gym." 21. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: His [Rory Bremner's] brilliant story about having his box turned inside out by a delivery from Jeff Thomson – he contrasts it with Andrew Flintoff being hit in the box by Cardigan Connor. [David] Lloyd came up to Flintoff, and said, "Cardigan Connor? You consider it an honour to be hit by Cardigan. Do you remember Jeff Thomson? I was hit amidships by him, and it was not a glancing blow. I was wearing one of those old boxes – you know, the pink ones, like a soap dish. It ended up that everything that was supposed to be inside the box had come outside the box – through the air holes!" 22. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. 23. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: In common axles, the wheel is prevented from coming off by a pin, called the linch pin, passing through the end of the axletree arm, the name of the part that the wheel turns upon; but as many serious accidents have happened through the linch pin failing and the wheel coming off, an improved method of securing the latter is now practised, by means of a box called the axletree box, which is contrived to answer the double purpose of keeping on the wheel, and to hold oil, grease, or some lubricating substance for lessening the friction. 24. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Example: In electric fencing, foil and saber fencers wear lames, which are thin outer jackets that cover their target areas. Lames are made from fabric that conducts electricity. When a fencer touches an opponent's lame with his or her blade, an electronic signal is sent to the scoring box. A colored light goes on to signal a touch. […] In épée, the whole body is the target, so épée fencers do not need to wear lames. A signal is sent to the scoring box from the épée any time a touch is made. 25. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: dated Example: “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.” Example: 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. 26. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: Southern-US, colloquial Example: So Tea Cake took the guitar and played himself. He was glad of the chance because he hadn't had his hand on a box since he put his in the pawn shop to get some money to hire a car for Janie soon after he met her. 27. Senses relating to a three-dimensional object or space. Labels: Ireland, UK, abbreviation, alt-of, colloquial 28. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: Place a tick in the box. Example: This text would stand out better if we put it in a coloured box. 29. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: As anyone who has ever maintained a baseball or softball diamond would agree, the pitcher's mound and batter's box present a special challenge. […] Batters dig in at the plate, disturbing the soil and making a hole that base runners must slide across when they approach the plate. To withstand the special stresses on these areas, only clay-based soils provide the necessary soil strength. […] [S]ome manufacturers have introduced clay-based soil products for pitcher's mounds and batter's boxes. These products include additives with special binding properties and are specifically designed to resist the stresses applied by the cleats of pitchers and batters. 30. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: Similar considerations apply in the case of tRNA genes, where the internal promoter is split into two functional domains (box A and box B) which must be a minimum distance apart[…]. The first 11 bp of the internal control region in the Xenopus 5S gene are structurally and functionally homologous to the box A element of tRNA gene promoters, […] 31. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: Your hands rest on the bottom plane of the box, relaxed and open; forearms are parallel with the ground and elbows close to your body. Balls thrown from your right hand are aimed at the point to the left of center of the top of the box. When you hit this point the ball will land in your left hand. Balls thrown from your left hand are aimed at the point to the right of center of the top of the box. 32. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal Example: [page 12] Field players wear shoes with short spikes, called cleats, on the soles. Box players wear court shoes, which have grooved rubber soles. […] [page 30] Field goalies have larger nets to protect than goalies in box lacrosse have. Box goalies wear more pads. 33. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: Poised link-up play between [Michael] Essien and [Frank] Lampard set the Ghanaian midfielder free soon after but his left-footed shot from outside the box was too weak. 34. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space 35. Senses relating to a two-dimensional object or space Example: “Okay Lewis, so box this lap, box, box” Example: When a driver is told to 'box, box', they're being instructed to make a pitstop. This is because 'box' sounds more distinct than 'pit' over the team radio, so there's less chance of confusion leading to an error. The word itself refers to the painted box outside a team's garage where pit stops take place, although some argue that it hails from 'boxenstopp', which is German for 'pit stop'. 36. A rectangular object in any number of dimensions. Labels: broadly