# box

Pronunciation: say "BOKS" US /bɑks/, UK /bɒks/

## Noun

1. A container with flat sides, often with a lid; also the container together with what is in it, or the amount it holds.
   - Simple: A container with flat sides and often a lid, or the amount it holds, as in 'a box of cereal'.
   - _She stored the letters in a carved box on her desk._
   - _Movers stacked cardboard boxes along the entire hallway._
2. A space on a computer screen or web page, typically with a border, where text is entered, an option is picked, or a message is shown.
   - Simple: A framed space on a screen or web page where you type, pick an option, or read a message.
   - _Enter the code from your email in the box below and click Verify._
   - _A box appeared in the corner of the screen saying the update was ready to install._
4. A compartment or receptacle into which items are deposited or delivered.
   - Simple: A container where people drop off or pick up things, like letters or votes.
   - _Completed ballots go into a sealed box at the front of the room._
   - _Each employee has a box in the mailroom for internal memos._
5. A rectangle, either oblong or square.
   - Simple: A flat shape with four straight sides and square corners.
   - _Write your initials in the box at the bottom of the page._
   - _A thin blue box appears around any text you select._
7. A computer, or the case in which its components are housed. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A computer, or the case that holds its parts.
   - _The server room was full of humming boxes._
   - _She wiped the old box and turned it into a media server._
8. An enclosed compartment for sitting in within an auditorium, courtroom, theater, or similar building.
   - Simple: A small separate area with seats in a theater, courtroom, or stadium.
   - _The senator watched the inauguration from a private box._
   - _The jurors returned to the box after the recess._
9. A small rectangular shelter, such as a sentry post or a watchman's hut.
   - Simple: A small simple shelter with straight sides, like the hut where a guard stands.
   - _Sentries took turns standing in the box beside the gate through the night._
   - _The signal operator worked from a box overlooking the rail junction._
10. In soccer, the penalty area: the rectangular zone in front of each goal where most fouls by the defending side result in a penalty kick.
   - Simple: In soccer, the large marked area in front of the goal where a foul can mean a penalty kick.
   - _The defender brought him down just inside the box, and the referee awarded a penalty._
   - _She whipped the cross into the box for the striker to head home._
12. In baseball, the rectangle beside home plate in which the batter must stand while hitting.
   - Simple: In baseball, the marked rectangle where the batter stands to hit.
   - _The umpire told him to keep both feet inside the box._
   - _After fouling off three straight pitches, she stepped out of the box to catch her breath._
13. Short for gearbox: the part of a vehicle's transmission that holds the gears. — Ellipsis of gearbox.
   - Simple: Short for gearbox: the part of a vehicle that holds the gears.
   - _Third gear kept slipping, so we pulled the box out over the weekend._
   - _The rally car runs a sequential box that shifts in a fraction of a second._
14. The television; almost always preceded by 'the'. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The television.
   - _After dinner they settled in front of the box for the news._
   - _She canceled her cable because nothing on the box interested her anymore._
15. A compartment, such as a drawer, in an item of storage furniture like a cupboard or shelf unit.
   - Simple: A drawer or other storage space built into a piece of furniture.
   - _The old writing desk has a row of small boxes above the work surface for letters and stamps._
   - _The wooden bench by the front door has a deep box built in under its seat, where the kids drop their hats and gloves._
16. Any of various evergreen shrubs or small trees of the genus Buxus, especially the common or European box (Buxus sempervirens), widely grown for hedges and topiary.
   - Simple: A garden bush that stays green all year and is often cut into neat hedges and shapes.
   - _Formal gardens often edge their flower beds with low hedges of clipped box._
   - _Box grows slowly, so a tall hedge can take decades to fill in._
19. A predicament or trap; a situation from which escape is difficult.
   - Simple: A difficult situation that is hard to get out of.
   - _Rising costs and frozen prices left the firm in a box._
   - _Her conflicting promises had put her in a box of her own making._
20. In vulgar slang, the vagina. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A very rude slang word for a woman's vagina.
   - _She dumped him after he bragged to his friends about her box._
   - _The bouncer threw him out for yelling something about the bartender's box._
21. A coffin, the container in which a dead person is buried.
   - Simple: A coffin: the long container a dead person is buried in.
   - _He told his sons not to waste money on anything fancier than a pine box._
   - _Six of us carried the box to the graveside in the rain._
22. A blow struck with the open hand or the fist, especially on the ear.
   - Simple: A hit with the open hand or the fist, especially on the ear.
   - _A sharp box on the ear sent the boy reeling._
   - _In those days, a cheeky pupil could expect a sharp box on the ears from the headmaster._
23. In slang, a prison cell. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A slang word for the small locked room where a prisoner stays.
   - _Two weeks in the box and he came out quieter than anyone remembered._
   - _You learn fast inside that mouthing off to a guard earns you the box._
24. In motor racing, a team's designated area in the pit lane where the car is repaired and refueled during a race.
   - Simple: In car racing, the team's spot beside the track where the car stops for fuel and repairs.
   - _A jammed wheel nut kept the car in the box for nearly thirty seconds._
   - _Mechanics swarmed the car the moment it stopped in the box._
25. The pale, fine-grained wood of the box tree, also known as boxwood.
   - Simple: The hard, smooth, pale yellow wood of the box tree.
   - _Engravers once preferred blocks of box because the wood holds the finest lines._
   - _The recorder's body is turned from box and darkens to a honey color with age._
26. In cricket, a hard protective cup worn inside the underwear by a batsman or close fielder to shield the genitals.
   - Simple: In cricket, a hard cup worn under the clothes to protect a player's private parts.
   - _He forgot his box and had to borrow one before facing the fast bowler._
   - _Even with a box on, a rising ball in that spot leaves you doubled over._
27. Short for horsebox: a vehicle or trailer for carrying horses. — Ellipsis of horsebox (“container for transporting horses”).
   - Simple: Short for horsebox: a trailer or truck that carries horses.
   - _We led the mare up the ramp into the box, and she stood quietly for the whole drive to the show._
   - _The vet examined the horse inside the box before clearing it to travel._
28. The raised seat at the front of a horse-drawn coach, occupied by the driver.
   - Simple: The high seat at the front of a horse-drawn coach where the driver sits.
   - _The coachman wrapped his cloak tighter and settled onto the box for the night run._
   - _Passengers sometimes paid extra to ride on the box beside the driver._

## Verb

3. To fight with the fists in the sport of boxing, either generally or against a particular opponent.
   - Simple: To fight someone with your fists as a sport, wearing padded gloves.
   - _She boxed competitively all through college._
   - _Both brothers box at the amateur level._
6. To pack something into a box or boxes, as for storage or shipping.
   - Simple: To put something inside a box, or to pack things into boxes.
   - _Workers box the apples right in the orchard._
   - _She boxed her winter clothes and carried them to the attic._
11. To surround and enclose someone or something so as to restrict movement, usually with 'in'.
   - Simple: To close in around someone or something so they cannot move or get out. Often used with 'in'.
   - _Parked cars boxed the ambulance in for several minutes._
   - _Riot police moved to box the protesters in on the bridge._
17. To strike someone with the open hand or the fist, especially on the ear.
   - Simple: To hit someone with your hand or fist, usually on the side of the head.
   - _The farmer boxed the thief on the ear and sent him running._
   - _Keep it up and I'll box your ears._
18. To enclose text, images, or other page elements within a printed or drawn border.
   - Simple: To draw or print a frame around words or pictures on a page.
   - _The editor decided to box the safety warning so readers wouldn't miss it._
   - _Newspapers often box election results in a corner of the front page._
29. To surround something with boards, lath, or similar material, either to hide it (pipes, for example) or to give it a needed shape.
   - Simple: To build a cover of boards around something, such as pipes, to hide it or give it a shape.
   - _The builders will box in the exposed ductwork with drywall before the ceiling is painted._
   - _The steel column was boxed with a timber frame and drywall so it would look like a square pillar._

## Other meanings

- (noun) In mathematics, a rectangular object generalized to any number of dimensions, such as a rectangle in two dimensions or a rectangular solid in three.
- (noun) Any of several eucalyptus trees commonly named box because of their wood, bark, or appearance, such as the black box or the drooping box.
- (noun) A numbered slot at a newspaper office where replies to a classified ad are collected so the advertiser can stay anonymous.
- (noun) A small container for hiding marijuana or other drugs and the gear used with them.
- (noun) A building beside a railway line from which signals and switches are worked.
- (noun) A prison cell where someone is kept alone, apart from other inmates.
- (noun) A gym set up for CrossFit training.
- (noun) In cricket, the gully, a close fielding position on the off side between the slips and point.
- (noun) A tubular housing that encloses a wheel's axle, a bearing, a gland, or a similar part.
- (noun) The scoring machine in electric fencing, wired to each fencer's weapon, that signals a hit with lights and a buzzer, using separate colors for valid and off-target touches.
- (noun) A modest house in the country, such as one used as a base for hunting or shooting.
- (noun) A guitar, or any similar instrument whose strings sit over a hollow resonating body.
- (noun) An accordion, concertina, or similar instrument played by squeezing bellows.
- (noun) Either of two short conserved DNA sequences in a promoter that help RNA polymerase attach and begin transcription.
- (noun) A juggling pattern, usually using three balls, whose vertical and horizontal throws suggest the outline of a box.
- (noun) An indoor version of lacrosse played in an enclosed rink with smaller teams.
- (noun) A formation of four aircraft flying in a diamond pattern.
- (verb) To pour cans of paint of nearly the same shade back and forth so that the whole batch ends up one consistent color.
- (verb) To cut a hollow or notch into a tree trunk so that sap can be collected from it.
- (verb) To fit a protective casing around an axle or similar part.
- (verb) To wrap a primitive value, such as an integer, inside an object so it can be handled as an object.
- (verb) In motor racing, to drive into the pit lane for a stop.
- (noun) Any instrument for playing music, but chiefly one fashioned from boxwood.
- (noun) Any of several Australian trees in the genus Lophostemon, which keep their leaves all year.
- (noun) The bogue, a small Mediterranean sea bream of the genus Boops caught for food.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–15, 18–21, 23–24, 26–29** — The word goes back to Late Latin buxis and Latin pyxis, "a small box for medicines or toiletries," from Ancient Greek puxís ("box"), from púxos ("box tree, boxwood"), a word of uncertain origin. From Latin it passed into Proto-West Germanic as *buhsā and then into Old English and Middle English as box ("box, case").
**Meanings 16, 25** — From Middle English and Old English "box" (box tree, boxwood), from Proto-West Germanic *buhs, from Latin "buxus"/"buxum" (box tree; boxwood), possibly from Ancient Greek "púxos" (box tree, boxwood).
**Meanings 3, 17, 22** — Middle English box meant "a blow, a stroke." Beyond that its origin is uncertain: it may be related to Proto-Germanic *boki- (compare Danish bask and Middle Dutch boke, "a blow"), with some shaping by imitation of the sound. The verb comes from boxen, a Middle English verb meaning to beat or whip an animal, which was formed from the noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/box (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).