Box

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /bÉ’ks/
• US enPR: bäks, IPA: /bɑːks/
• Rhymes: -É’ks

From Middle English box, from Old English box ("box-tree; box, case"), from Proto-Germanic *buhsuz (cf. Dutch bus ("bush of a wheel"), German Büchse, Swedish hjulbössa ("wheel-box")), from Late Latin buxis ("box"), from Ancient Greek πυξίς (pyxis, "boxwood box"), from πύξος (pyxos, "box tree").

Full definition of box

Noun

1. A cuboid space; a container, usually with a hinged lid.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 1, 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, ….
2. As much as fills a such a container.
   a box of books
3. A compartment of a storage furniture, or of a part of such a furniture, such as of a drawer, shelving, etc.
4. A compartment to sit in at a theater, courtroom or auditorium.
5. A small rectangular shelter like a booth.a sentry box
6. A rectangle.Place a tick or a cross in the box.This text would stand out better if we put it in a box of colour.
7. An input field on an interactive electronic display.
8. A numbered receptacle at a newspaper office for anonymous replies to advertisements.
9. A trap or predicament.
   I'm really in a box now.
10. The driver's seat on a coach.
11. (cricket)  A hard protector for the genitals worn by a batsman or close fielder inside the underpants.
12. (engineering)  A cylindrical casing around for example a bearing or gland.
13. (football)  The penalty area.
• 2010, December 29, Chris Whyatt, Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton, Poised link-up play between Essien and Lampard set the Ghanaian midfielder free soon after but his left-footed shot from outside the box was too weak.
14. (computing, slang)  A computer, or the case in which it is housed. box
    a UNIX box
15. (slang, with the)  Television.
16. (slang, offensive)  The vagina.
17. (euphemistic)  Coffin.
18. (juggling)  A pattern usually performed with three balls where the movements of the balls make a boxlike shape.
19. Horse box.
• 1877, Anna Sewell, Black Beauty Chapter 22http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22He 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.
20. (baseball) The rectangle in which the batter stands.
21. A Mediterranean food fish; the bogue.
22. (dated) A small country house.a shooting box
• Cowpertight boxes neatly sashed
23. (informal) box lacrosse

Usage notes

(computer) The whimsical plural boxen is occasionally used.

Synonyms

• (rectangular container) case, package
• (as much as fills a box) boxful
• (compartment to sit in) loge
• (small shelter like a booth) shelter
• (input field on an electronic display) text box
• (driver's seat on a coach) box seat
• (coarse slang: the vagina) gash, pussy, twat
• (television) telly UK, tube, TV
• box computer, machine
• (protector for the genitals) cup US

Derived terms

Descendants

• Portuguese: ,

Verb

1. (transitive) To place inside a box; to pack in boxes.
2. (transitive, usually with 'in') To hem in.
3. (transitive, computing) To place a value of a primitive type into a corresponding object.
4. (transitive) To mix two containers of paint of similar color to ensure that the color is identical.
5. (transitive) To furnish (e.g. a wheel) with boxes.
6. (architecture) To enclose with boarding, lathing, etc., so as to bring to a required form.
7. (transitive) To make an incision or hole in (a tree) for the purpose of procuring the sap.

Synonyms

• (to place inside a box) box up, case, embox, encase, pack, package, package up
• (to hem in) corner

Derived terms

Antonyms

• (place inside a box) unbox, uncase, unpack

Middle English, from Old English, from Latin buxus, from Ancient Greek πύξος (puksos, "box tree").

Noun

1. Any of various evergreen shrubs or trees of the genus Buxus.
2. Boxwood: the wood from a box tree.
• 1884, John R. Jackson, “Boxwood and its Substitutes”, reprinted in Journal of the Society of Arts, 1885 April 10, page 567:Nevertheless, the application of woods other than box for purposes for which that wood is now used would tend to lessen the demand for box, and thus might have an effect in lowering its price.
3. (slang) A musical instrument, especially/usually one made from boxwood.
• 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial (2000), page 100:“Evenin’, folks. Thought y’all might lak uh lil music this evenin’ so Ah brought long mah box.”

Derived terms

• box elder
• box holly
• box thorn

Synonyms

• (evergreen shrub or tree) boxwood

Derived terms

Middle English boxen ("to box, beat") and box ("a blow, a hit"), of unknown origin but apparently akin to Middle Dutch boke ("a blow, a hit"), Middle High German buc ("a blow"), Danish bask ("a blow"). See also Ancient Greek πύξ (pux), πυγμή (pugmē) (fist, pugilism)

Noun

1. A blow with the fist.
• Washington IrvingAnd then he whispered something to the girl which made her laugh, and give him a good-humored box on the ear.

Synonyms

• (blow with the fist) blow, punch

Verb

1. (transitive) To strike with fists; to punch.box someone's earsLeave this place before I box you!
2. (transitive) To fight against (a person) in a boxing match.
3. (intransitive) To participate in boxing; to be a boxer.

Derived terms

Descendants

• German:
• Portuguese: