Also Sc. boxse, boxe. [OE. box neut. or masc.: it is not clear whether this was (1) another sense of box, the name of the tree, (2) an independent adoption of L. buxum box-wood, in the sense of a thing made of box, or (3) an altered form of L. pyx-is (puxis, med.L. buxis) box: see PYX. In favor of the latter cf. OHG. buhsa fem. (MHG. buhse, bühse, Ger. büchse, MDu. busse, bosse, Du. bus, bos) on OTeut. type *buksja-, ad. L. pyxis or Gr. πύξις box. As the latter was f. πύξος box-wood, the L. form of which was buxus, late and med.L. had many forms with initial b, as buxis, buxida, buxta, boxta, bosta, bossida (cf. BOIST), from some of which the Teutonic forms might well be derived.]
I. 1. A case or receptacle usually having a lid; a. orig. applied to a small receptacle of any material for drugs, ointments or valuables; b. gradually extended (since 1700) to include cases of larger size, made to hold merchandise and personal property; but (unless otherwise specified) understood to be four-sided and of wood.
a. 1000. Ælfric, Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 124. Pixis, bixen box.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvi. 7. Ða ʓenealæte him to sum wif, seo hæfde box [Vulg. alabastrum] mit deorwyrðe sealfe.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 145. Hie nam ane box ȝemaked of marbelstone and hine fulde mid derewurðe smerieles.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIV. 54. As þe messager … bereþ bote a boxe a breuet þer-ynne.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 46. Box or boyste, pixis.
1480. Cath. Angl., 39. A Box, pixis.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 286 b. The swete oyntement … was closed and shutte in the boxe.
1580. Baret, Alv., B 1083. Boxes or chestes where grocers put there spices and wares.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., V. i. 45. And about his [the apothecary’s] shelues A beggerly account of emptie boxes … thinly scattered, to make vp a shew.
1611. Bible, 2 Kings ix. 1. Take this boxe of oile in thine hand. Ibid., Transl. Pref., 1. Certaine bare themselves as auerse from them as from … boxes of poison.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1263/4. Three Silver Boxes, one for Sugar, one for Pepper, and one for Mustard.
1751. Johnson, Rambl., No. 171, ¶ 7. My landlady … took the opportunity of my absence to search my boxes.
1862. Burton, Bk.-hunter, I. 15. His spoil, packed in innumerable great boxes.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 471. Sand and loam (packed tightly into metal boxes, called flasks).
c. fig.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. i. 29. Why thou damnable box of enuy thou.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1664), 89. It is an essentiall property of a man truly wise, not to open all the boxes of his bosome.
1653. Walton, Angler, 220. I have several boxes in my memory in which I will keep them all very safe.
2. With various substantives indicating its purpose, position, etc., as bonnet-, cartridge-, coal-, collecting-, dirt-, hat-, letter-, light-, match-, missionary-, money-, pepper-, pill-, pillar-, poor-, sand-, savings-, snuff-, tar-, touch-box; also DICE-BOX, and with a more specific signification, fire-, smoke-, steam-box, etc.
1638. Shirley, Mart. Soldier, IV. iii. in Bullen, Old. Pl. (1882), I. 236. The Sand of a Scriveners Sand-boxe.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 79, ¶ 1. I made her resign her Snuff-Box for ever.
1722. Lond. Gaz., No. 6068/8. One Pepper-box, two Salts.
1730. Swift, Directions Housemaid (1745), 87. Leave a Payl of dirty Water with Mop in it, a Coal-box, a Bottle, a Broom, [etc.].
1808. R. Porter, Trav. Sk. Russ. & Swed. (1813), I. i. 11. A broad belt, to which hangs an unwieldly cartridge-box.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 1079. Water-Meter, A dirt box is attached to each end of the meters.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 217. Cigar boxes, jewel boxes, handkerchief boxes, glove boxes, match boxes.
3. In various contextual applications: † a. The pyx or receptacle for the consecrated host; † b. A surgeon’s box, used as a cupping-glass (cf. BOIST); c. A ballot-box; d. A dice-box; e. A letter-box; f. The receptacle for infants at the gate of a foundling hospital.
1297. R. Glouc., 456. Þe box ek, þat hong ouer the weued, myd Godes fless & blod.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helth (1541), 61. Application of boxes about the stomake, in hot feuers, are to be eschewed.
1549. Thomas, Hist. Italie (1561), 79. Boxes, into whiche, if he wyll, he may let fall his ballot.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 55. Spekyng agayne the sacrament of the auter … callyd it Jacke of the boxe.
1562. Bulleyn, Sicke Men, &c. 52 b. Aplie boxis with skariffaction.
1604. Breton, Pass. Sheph., III. in Spenser’s Wks. (Grosart), III. Introd. 29. Or to see the subtle fox, How the villain plies the box.
1680. Cotton, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 332. I have seen a losing gamester greedily gnawing the innocent box.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Box, Our sharpers have opportunities of playing divers tricks with the box, as palming, topping, slabbing.
1825. Amelia Opie, Illustr. Lying, Bank Note, 121. It is, however, quite necessary that a person whom I can trust should put the letter in the box.
1873. Morley, Rousseau, I. 118. The new-born child was dropped into oblivion in the box of the asylum for foundlings.
4. esp. A money-box, containing either private or public funds, often with a defining word added.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Cook’s T., 26. Ffor often tyme he foond his box [v.r. boxe] ful bare.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 97. And boxes ben [broght] forþ [I-] bounden with yre.
1552–3. Inv. Ch. Goods Stafford, 87. The poore mans box.
a. 1555. Lyndesay, Tragedy, 70. I purcheist—for my proffect singulare, My Boxsis and my Threasure tyll auance,—The Byschopreik of Merapose, in France.
1580. Baret, Alv., B 1079. A boxe for almes or the poore mens boxe.
1607. Shaks., Timon, III. i. 16. Nothing but an empty box, Sir, which … I come to intreat your Honor to supply.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., iv. He … was to have a halfpenny on Sunday to put into the poor’s box.
b. transf. The money contained in such a box; a fund for a particular purpose. Cf. box-club.
1389. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 5. He schal haue of þe comune box xiiijd. Ibid., 7. Alle þe costages that be mad aboute hym be mad good of the box.
1439. E. E. Wills (1882), 113. I bequeth to the … Comune Box … vjs. viijd.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. iii. VII. (1651), 356. With ordinary gamesters, the gains go to the box.
1775. Johnson, Lett., cxii. (1788), I. 234. The Indies … pay each twopence a week to the box.
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., I. ii. (1849), 5. She applied in her auld days for a recommendation to get her put upon the box.
5. Short for CHRISTMAS-BOX, q.v.
a. 1593. H. Smith, Serm. (1866), II. 240. The law is like a butlers-box, play still on till all come to the candestick.
1611. Cotgr., Such a box as our prentices beg before Christmas.
1621. W. Mason, Handf. Ess., C ij. As an apprentices box of earth, apt he is to take all, but to restore none till hee be broken.
1629. Taylor, Wit & Mirth, in Brand, Pop. Ant. (1870), I. 270. Westminster Hall … is like a Butler’s Box at Christmas amongst gamesters: for whosoeuer loseth, the Box will bee sure to bee a winner.
1668. Pepys, Diary, 28 Dec. Called up by drums & trumpets; these things & boxes having cost me much money this Christmas.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 509, ¶ 3. The beadles & officers have the impudence at Christmas to ask for their box.
6. A box under the driver’s seat on a coach; hence in general the seat on which the driver sits.
1625. Knappe’s Patent, No. 31. A devise whereby the coachman without comyng from his boxe shall … keepe the hinder wheeles from turninge.
1669. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 42. Our coachmen so drunk, that they both fell off their boxes on the heath.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Box, Coach-box, a place under the coachman’s seat, wherein he puts what may be wanted for the service of the coach or horses.
1812. Jane Austen, Mansf. Park (1870), I. viii. 67. The barouche would hold four perfectly well … independent of the box.
1884. Q. Victoria, More Leaves, 116. Brown as always, unless I mention to the contrary, on the box.
7. A box and its contents; hence a variable measure of quantity.
c. 1305. Judas, 131, in E. E. P. (1862), 110. If Þe boxes hadde ibeon isolde … Þe teoþing þerof was þrettie pans.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 194. Haued nouȝt Magdeleigne more for a boxe of salue Þan zacheus.
1706. Phillips, Box is also taken for an uncertain quantity of some Commodities; as of Prunelloes, 14 Pounds; of Quick-silver, from one to two Hundred Weight; of Rings for Keys, two Gross, &c.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5438/4. Two Quarter Boxes of Lace and Edgings.
1852. McCulloch, Dict. Comm., 667. Exportation of Sugar from Havannah in 1849: 614,366 boxes at 400 lbs.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 36. He who is to be a workman should have his box of tools when he is a child.
1886. Illust. Lond. News, 3 July, 2/3. A ‘box of whistles,’ otherwise an organ.
II. A compartment or place partitioned off for the separate accommodation of people or animals.
8. A seated compartment in a theater, at first specially for ladies; often qualified, as front-, private-, side-, stage-, upper-, etc. In pl. collectively for a distinct part of the auditorium.
(As box, when this sense arose, had not acquired the sense of a large wooden chest, but was chiefly an apothecary’s pill box or ointment pot, or perhaps a ‘jewel-box,’ its transference to the theatrical use was more remarkable than it seems to us with our notions of large ‘boxes’ for goods. Could it be at first humorous or jocular, with some reference to ‘casket,’ ‘jewel box,’ or ‘box of ointment very precious’?)
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk. I mean not into the lords roome, which is now but the stages suburbs. No, these boxes … are contemptibly thrust into the reare.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, II. ii. (Anne) The private box ta’en up at a new play For me and my retinue.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1877), V. 60. We were forced to go into one of the upper boxes at 4s. a piece.
1755. Johnson, Dict., Box, the seats in the playhouse where the ladies are placed.
1779. Sheridan, Critic, I. i. 443. Applications from all quarters for my interest … from ladies to get boxes.
a. 1845. Hood, United Family, xvi.
| Nine crowded in a private box, | |
| Is apt to pick the stiffest locks— | |
| Our curls would all fall out, though we | |
| Are one united family! |
1881. Daily News, 12 Sept., 2/3. The auditorium, the boxes, upper circle, and gallery.
b. transf. The occupants of the boxes; esp. the ladies.
a. 1700. Dryden, Prol. Lady-Actors (J.). The boxes and the pit Are sov’reign judges of this sort of wit.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Persius, i. Prol. Wks. 1730, I. 51. Nor [I] from the tender boxes e’er Yet have drawn one pitying tear.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 40. Let him behave himself. abjectly towards the fair one, and it is ten to one but he proves a favourite of the boxes.
9. A compartment partitioned off in the public room of a coffee-house or tavern.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 266, ¶ 4. I went to an Inn in the City … I waited in one of the boxes.
1782. Cowper, Lett. to Hill, 7 Dec. I see you in your box at the coffee-house.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. ix. 290. An ancient coffee-room, divided into boxes in the snug old fashion.
10. Short for JURY-BOX, WITNESS-BOX.
1821. Lamb, Elia, Roast Pig. Without leaving the box … they brought in a simultaneous Verdict of Not Guilty.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxiv. Mr. Winkle entered the witness-box. Mr. Phunky ought to have got him out of the box with all possible dispatch.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 385. The jury appeared in their box.
1880. Daily Tel., 4 Nov., 5/1. By his country, represented by twelve men in a box, he will be tried.
11. Applied to an old square pew in a church, to a prison-cell, and the hinder compartment in a boat.
1709. Lett. to Ld. M[ayor], 4. Some who sat in the Stalls and Boxes at St. Paul’s titter’d.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, III. v. (1878), 200. In a box of the stone jug I was born.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Box, the space between the backboard and stern-post of a boat, where the coxswain sits.
12. A separate compartment or stall for a horse, etc., in a stable, or a railway truck. Also horse-box. Loose box: one in which the animal is free to move about.
1846. W. Andrew, Ind. Railw. (ed. 3), 15. The horses came out of the horse boxes, after a movement of 100 miles, just as fresh as when they went into them.
1886. Sat. Rev., 6 March, 327/2. To get cast in a loose box half as big as a barn. Ibid., 328/1. [A racehorse] … found huddled up in the corner of his box, shaking from head to foot.
III. A box-like shelter; a hut, or small house.
13. A place of shelter for one or more men; as a sentry’s, signalman’s, or watchman’s box; a sportsman’s hiding-place while shooting.
b. spec. on the Railway. A small structure, generally on raised supports, from which the signals, switches, etc., of a section of a railway are worked.
1714. Gay, Trivia, II. 176. The Centry’s Box.
1835. Hood, Dead Robbery, iii. The Watchman in his box was dosing.
1884. Speedy, Sport, x. 176. Grouse are not slow to discover any movement in the ‘box.’
14. A small country-house; a residence for temporary use while following a particular sport, as a hunting-, shooting-, fishing-box.
1714. Ellwood, Autobiog., 233. I took a pretty Box for him … a mile from me.
1756. Gentl. Mag., XXVI. 445. And purchases his country box.
1756. J. Warton, Ess. Pope (1782), III. I. 108. His father retired from business … to a little convenient box, at Binfield.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 200. Rawlinson, who … has a box and some land here.
1873. Tristram, Moab, xi. 213. Some of these he may have employed to erect here a hunting-box.
IV. Technical usages.
15. A case for the protection of a piece of mechanism from injury, dust, etc. a. The case in which the needle of a compass is placed. Box and Needle (see quot.).
[When the cardboard with the points was not attached to the needle, but was fixed to the box, the box would have to be turned each time the ship changed its direction (see quot. 1613); hence may have arisen the expressions in BOX v.1 12.]
1613. M. Ridley, Magn. Bodies, 105. If the ship turne anything about, the boxe of the compasse must also be turned.
1696. Phillips, Box and Needle, an Instrument used in surveying of Land, and finding out the situation of any side, by pointing one end of its needle towards the North.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Box and Needle, in Navigation, is the same with the compass.
1755. Johnson, Box … the case of the mariner’s compass.
† b. The case (i.e., inner case) of a watch. Also the barrel. Obs.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1008/4. Lost … a plain round Watch … the Box and Out-case of Gold. Ibid. (1678), No. 1305/4. A round Watch … in a silver Box engraven, a plain silver out Case.
1740. Cheyne, Regimen, 320. Like a Spring in the Box of a Watch.
1751. in Chambers, Cycl.
c. The case of a lock; also, the socket on a door-jamb which receives the bolt.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 376. These Locks they make either with brass or iron boxes so curiously polish’t.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 139. A bolt shoots from the box or lock … and catches in some kind of staple or box fixed to receive it.
16. a. A metal cylinder in the nave of a cart or carriage wheel, which surrounds the axle. b. The case in which the journal of a shaft, axle, etc., revolves; a journal-box, a bearing. (Cf. BUSH sb.2)
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4935/4. Cast Iron Boxes, for the Wheels of all manner of Carriages.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., Box of a wheel, the aperture wherein the axis turns.
1811. Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VIII. 351. You will let him have … brass boxes from wheels.
1885. Unwin, Elem. Machine Design, 229. Axle-boxes are peculiarly formed journal-bearings.
17. The piston of a pump; the case containing the valve; also the upper part of a pump-stock.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 12. The Pumpe … the pumpes chaine, the spindle, the boxe, the clap.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), G iv. The pump-spear … draws up the box, or piston, charged with the water.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., s.v., Each ordinary pump has an upper and lower box; in the centre of each box is a valve opening upwards.
18. A cavity made in the trunk of a tree to collect its sap; cf. BOX v.1 7.
1720. Dudley, Maple Sugar, in Phil. Trans., XXXI. 27. The Box you make may hold about a Pint.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 339. If we enter, in the winter … a ‘turpenting orchard,’ we come upon negroes engaged in making boxes, in which the sap is to be collected the following spring…. These ‘boxes’ … are cavities dug in the trunk of the tree.
19. Printing. One of the cells into which a type-case is divided.
1696. Phillips, s.v. Case, The Printers call a Case a division of little Boxes where they put the letters of the Alphabet.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 643. The upper case, having ninety-eight boxes, contains the capital and small capital letters (etc.) … in the lower case, having fifty-four boxes, are disposed the small letters (etc.).
20. Founding. In sand-molding, the case containing the sand in which the mold is made; a ‘flask.’
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 476. Boxes constitute an essential and very expensive part of the furniture of a foundry.
V. 21. Phrases. To be in the (formerly a) wrong box: to be in a wrong position, out of the right place. To be in a box (colloq.): to be in a fix, in a ‘corner.’
[The original allusion appears to be lost; was it to the boxes of an apothecary? Cf. [Cæsar Borgia] appoincted poysoned coumfettes for a Cardinall that dined with his father, but the father hym selfe was serued of the wronge boxe and died. W. Thomas, Hist. Italie, 1549, 69.]
a. 1555. in Ridley, Wks. (1841), 163 (D.). If you will hear how St. Augustine expoundeth that place, you shall perceive that you are in a wrong box.
1607. Walkington, Opt. Glass, 17. Socrates said, laugh not, Zophyrus is not in a wrong box.
a. 1659. Cleveland, Coachman, 12. Sir, faith you were in the wrong Box.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 13. The Father Confessor saw himself in a wrong box.
1685. H. More, Paralip. Prophet., 252. You should find your self in a wrong Box.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, x. 31. Take care your rights of man don’t get you in the wrong box.
VI. Comb. and Attrib.
22. simple attrib. Belonging to a box or boxes; coming from boxes.
1883. M. Schuyler, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 860/1. The music and the spectacle are at least as available from that humble station as from the coigne of vantage in the box tier.
1885. Daily News, 14 July, 2/2. New laid eggs … cannot be competed against by the foreign or ‘box’ eggs.
23. General comb.: a. objective, as box-maker, -making; -opener, -scraper, -setter; box-turning adj. b. attributive. (a.) of a box, as box-lid; (b.) of the nature of, or resembling a box, as box-keelson, -lock, -stall, -stove, stringer; (c.) pertaining to a box in a theater, etc., as box-circle, -lobby, -office, -opener, -seat; also box-like adj.
1812. Examiner, 9 Nov., 713/2. The *box-circle at the Theatres.
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 501. Whatever has been on the *box-lid … is unfortunately wholly defaced.
1836. Dubourg, Violin, ix. (1878), 277. Abandoning his advocacy of an ugly, bluff, *box-like pattern [of violin].
1858. W. Ellis, Visits Madagascar, iii. 54. The little box-like room.
1730. Savery, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 326. A common Door Key of an Iron *Box-Lock.
1645. Pagitt, Heresiogr. (ed. 4), 133. The Author of this Sect was one Iohn Hetherington, a *Boxe-maker.
1812. Examiner, 5 Oct., 631/2. Those who apply first for places at the *Box-Office.
1878. Mrs. Stowe, Poganuc P., vii. 55. Carried the *boxstove into the broad aisle of the meeting-house.
1869. Sir E. Reed, Shipbuild., ix. 168. *Box-stringers are formed on the beam-ends.
24. Special comb.: box-barrow, a barrow with upright sides and front; box-beam, an iron beam with a double web; box-bill (see quot.); box-chronometer, a marine chronometer with gimbal arrangements like a ship’s-compass; box-club, a society for mutual aid in distress, a friendly or provident society; box-coat, a heavy over-coat worn by coachmen on the box, or by those riding outside a coach; box-coupling, an iron collar used to connect the ends of two shafts or other pieces of machinery; box-crab, a crab of the genus Calappa, which when at rest resembles a box; box-day = BOXING-DAY; also one of the days in the vacation appointed in the Court of Session (Scotl.) for the lodgment of papers ordered to be deposited in the Court (cf. BOX v.1 4, BOXING vbl. sb.); box-drain, a drain of quadrangular section; box-feeding, rearing cattle with each animal in a box or separate stall of the stable; box-fish, a name of the trunk-fish, Ostracion; box-girder, an iron girder resembling a box, the four sides being fastened to one another by angle-irons; box-groove (see quot.); box-hand (see quot.); box-iron, a smoothing iron with a cavity to contain a heater; also attrib.; box-keeper, (a.) the keeper of the dice and box at a gaming table; (b.) an attendant at the boxes in a theater: so box-keeperess; box-man, a man who carries a box; box-metal, a metallic alloy of copper and tin, or of zinc, tin, lead and antimony for bearings; box-money, (a.) money collected in boxes; (b.) a payment to the keeper of the dice-box at each throw; in pl. simply boxes; box-pleat, a double pleat or fold in cloth; so box-pleated ppl. a., box-pleating vbl. sb.; box-slater (Zool.), a name of the genus Idothea of Isopods; box-sleigh, a sleigh with a box-like body; box-timbering, the lining of a shaft with rectangular plank frames (Raymond, Mining Gloss.); box-tortoise, -turtle (see quot.); box-wallah (Anglo-Ind. see WALLAH), a native itinerant pedlar in India. Also BOX-BED.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. xi. 69. Yoked in long strings to *box barrow or over-loaded tumbril.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Box-bill, a tool used in deep boring for slipping over and recovering broken rods.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pock. Bk., v. (ed. 2), 190. In winding up *box-chronometers, the chronometer should be inverted carefully in its gimbals.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 239. Scots-hall, a corporation for the relief of the poor … people of Scotland … founded by James Kinnier … who obtained letters patent to incorporate a *box-club of his countrymen for this purpose.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 464. Box clubs … have much extended since the law passed for making them corporate.
1822. W. Irving, Braceb. Hall (1845), 60. The travellers’ room is garnished … with *box-coats, whips of all kinds.
1861. Emerson, Cond. Life, 90. Dress makes a little restraint…. But the box-coat is like wine: it unlocks the tongue.
1864. Burton, Scot Abr., I. v. 302. The handsel … has fallen into disuse, having been superseded by that great institution the *Box-day.
1848. Gard. Chron., 769. Three methods of feeding cattle are … Hemel-feeding, Stall-feeding, and *Box-feeding.
1839–47. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., III. 969/1. The … *box-fishes … have their entire body … enclosed in a dense case of armour.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Box-groove, a closed groove between two rolls, formed by a collar on one roll, fitting between collars on another roll.
1833. Fraser’s Mag., VIII. 194. The avowed profits of keeping a table of this kind is the receipt of a piece for each *box-hand,—that is, when a player wins three times successively, he pays a certain sum to the table; and there is an aperture in the table made to receive these contributions.
1746. Miles, in Phil. Trans., XLIV. 56. *Box-Irons for smoothing Linen-Clothes.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6195/6. John Brown … Box-Iron-maker.
1680. Cotton, in Singer, Hist. Cards, 335. If you be not careful and vigilant, the *box-keeper shall score you up double or treble boxes.
1693. W. de Britaine, Hum. Prudence, 141. Playing at Dice … the Box-keeper is commonly the greatest Winner.
1728. Vanbrugh & Cib., Prov. Husb., V. iii. 112. She hears the Boxkeepers, at an Opera, call out—The Countess of Basset’s Servants!
1855–7. Thackeray, Misc., II. 346 (D.). The *box-keeperess popped in her head, and asked if we would take any refreshment.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, II. 193. Accommodation for narrative bagmen or *boxmen.
1557. Order of Hospitalls, F v b. An Yerely-booke for Collections, Legacies and Benevolences, *Boxe Mony.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v. Box, Betters have the advantage over casters as they have no *box-money to pay.
1883. Daily News, 22 Sept., 3/3. The … material, arranged in *box-pleats from the waist.
1883. Myra’s Jrnl., Aug. Narrow box-pleated blouse paniers finish the corsage.
1882. Society, 14 Oct., 24/2. The width of a skirt necessary for kilting or box-pleating is always three times as much as for a plain one.
1869. Nicholson, Zool., xxxii. (1880), 305. Other well-known Isopods are … the *Box-slaters (Idothea).
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 72. Genus Pyxis. This genus is the only Land *Box Tortoise. By means of this sort of moveable door or lid, the Pyxis … can shut itself up in a sort of box.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, 125. The same men … shut down their valve, as soon as the conversation approaches the English church. After that, you talk with a *box-turtle.
a. 1847. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, III. xxi. 263. The *box-wallas or sundook-wallas, are native pedlars.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 3 Aug., 11/1. As to the poor boxwallah, the memsahib is a good deal to blame.
