inbox

Pluralinboxes

Formsinboxes, inboxing, inboxed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A digital folder where incoming emails and electronic files are collected for the user to read.

   His inbox filled with replies within minutes of sending the newsletter.

   She sorted her inbox into separate folders for each ongoing project.

   Similarmailbox

   Oppositeoutbox

   Note

   Computing borrowed the desk tray whole. The name, the logic and the routine all come from the paper tray: messages arrive, wait, and are meant to be dealt with and moved on. Bonnie Hillman Shay's Take Charge of Your Email Inbox (2014) puts the ideal plainly, telling readers to handle their remaining emails and remove them from the inbox as soon as possible. An inbox is something you empty, not something you store things in.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A tray or container on a desk into which papers awaiting attention are placed.

   The clerk emptied her inbox at the end of each day.

   New memos go straight into the manager's inbox for review.

   Similarin-tray, in-basket

   Oppositeoutbox

   Note

   The original desk object, named as plainly as possible: in plus box, the place where work comes in. It is half of a pair, and its partner is the outbox, where finished papers wait to go out. In-tray and in-basket name the same object, so the choice among the three is largely a matter of habit.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To contact a person by sending a message to their electronic inbox.

   Just inbox the organizer if you need to change your booking.

   He inboxed several clients before the meeting started.

   Similarmessage, email, contact, DM

   Note

   Social media carried the word beyond email. In J. L. King's Full Circle (2014), a woman "inboxed me on Facebook." The direct object is the person, and the platform follows with on. Nothing is said about what is sent, because the verb already means "sent a private message." That makes it close to message or DM in everyday use.

4. 4
   nounfigurativelycountable

   The collected mass of items, demands, or problems that call for one's attention or effort.

   Every new crisis added another item to the mayor's overflowing inbox.

   She treated her worries like an inbox to be worked through one by one.

   Similarbacklog, workload, agenda, docket

   Note

   In the figurative use, everything pressing on a person becomes mail waiting to be answered. That can include people as well as tasks: "the kids, my ex, my parents, the job, bills" all count. The usual complaint is that it is full or overflowing, the same words used for a crowded email folder.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To deposit an item into someone's inbox, whether a physical tray or an electronic folder.

   She inboxed the proposal and waited for feedback.

   Could you inbox me the final budget before the board meeting?

   Similarsend, email, forward, submit

   Note

   A verb that behaves like send or mail and takes two objects: the person comes first and the thing second (I inboxed you the presentation). It can also take the thing alone (she inboxed the proposal). Its forms are regular: inboxes, inboxing, inboxed. Here the object is what gets delivered, which separates it from the messaging verb, where the object is the person contacted.

Showing meanings only. Show all 5