Box Definition

bŏks
boxed, boxes
noun
boxes
A container typically constructed with four sides perpendicular to the base and often having a lid or cover.
American Heritage
Any of various kinds of containers, usually rectangular and lidded, made of cardboard, wood, or other stiff material; case; carton.
Webster's New World
The amount or quantity that such a container can hold.
American Heritage
A square or rectangle.
Draw a box around your answer.
American Heritage
An area of a public place, such as a courtroom or stadium, marked off and restricted for use by persons performing a specific function.
A jury box.
American Heritage
verb
boxed, boxes
To provide with a box.
Webster's New World
To hit with the hand or fist.
American Heritage
To confine in or as if in a box.
American Heritage
To put into a box, etc., as for storage or shipment.
Webster's New World
To fight with the fists; engage in boxing.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
adjective
Shaped or made like a box.
Webster's New World
Packaged in a box.
Webster's New World
Designating a family (Buxaceae, order Euphorbiales) of dicotyledonous evergreen shrubs and trees, including pachysandra.
Webster's New World
idiom
box the compass
  • To name the 32 points of the compass in proper order.
  • To make a complete revolution or reversal.
American Heritage
in a box
  • In a very difficult or restrictive situation.
American Heritage
outside
  • In a strikingly unconventional or original way:

    thinking outside the box.

American Heritage
box in
  • box up
  • to block and thus prevent (another racer) from getting ahead
Webster's New World
box out
  • to block (an opponent) so as to prevent that player from getting a rebound
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Box

Noun

Singular:
box
Plural:
boxes

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Box

Origin of Box

  • 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”).

    From Wiktionary

  • 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)

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English from Late Latin buxis from Greek puxis from puxos box tree

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English from Latin buxus from Greek puxos

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to box using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

box