box

pronunciation

How to pronounce box in British English: UK [bɒks] word uk audio image

How to pronounce box in American English: US [bɑːks] word us audio image

Noun:

a (usually rectangular) container; may have a lid
private area in a theater or grandstand where a small group can watch the performance
the quantity contained in a box
a predicament from which a skillful or graceful escape is impossible
a rectangular drawing
evergreen shrubs or small trees
any one of several designated areas on a ball field where the batter or catcher or coaches are positioned
the driver's seat on a coach
separate partitioned area in a public place for a few people
a blow with the hand (usually on the ear)
Verb:

put into a box
hit with the fist
engage in a boxing match

Word Origin

box: box: English has two distinct words box. The ‘receptacle’ [OE] probably comes from late Latin buxis, a variant of Latin pyxis (whence English pyx ‘container for Communion bread’ [14]). This was borrowed from Greek puxís, which originally meant not simply ‘box’, but specifically ‘box made of wood’; for it was a derivative of Greek púxos, which via Latin buxus has given English box the tree [OE]. Box ‘fight with the fists’ first appeared in English as a noun, meaning ‘blow’ [14], now preserved mainly in ‘a box round the ears’.Its ancestry is uncertain: it may be related to Middle Dutch bōke and Danish bask ‘blow’, or it could simply be an obscure metaphorical extension of box ‘receptacle’.=> pyx

box (n.1.): Old English box "a wooden container," also the name of a type of shrub, from Late Latin buxis, from Greek pyxis "boxwood box," from pyxos "box tree," which is of uncertain origin. See OED entry for discussion. German Büchse also is a Latin loan word. Meaning "compartment at a theater" is from c. 1600. Meaning "pigeon-hole at a post office" is from 1832. Meaning "television" is from 1950. Slang meaning "vulva" is attested 17c., according to "Dictionary of American Slang;" modern use seems to date from c.World War II, perhaps originally Australian, on notion of "box of tricks." Box office is 1786; in the figurative sense of "financial element of a performance" it is first recorded 1904. Box lunch (n.) attested from 1899. The box set, "multiple-album, CD or cassette issue of the work of an artist" is attested by 1955.

box (n.2.): "a blow," c. 1300, of uncertain origin, possibly related to Middle Dutch boke, Middle High German buc, and Danish bask, all meaning "a blow," perhaps imitative.

box (v.1): "to put into storage, put into a box," mid-15c., from box (n.1). Related: Boxed; boxing.

box (v.2): "to beat or whip," late 14c., from box (n.2). Meaning "to fight with the fists" is from 1560s. Related: Boxed; boxing.