Box Office Definition
box-office
noun
A place where admission tickets are sold, as in a theater.
Webster's New World
The power of a show, film, or performer to attract a paying audience.
Webster's New World
A show, film, etc. considered with regard to this power.
Webster's New World
A factor influencing this power.
Notoriety is usually good box office.
American Heritage
Total attendance for an entertainment; turnout.
American Heritage
Other Word Forms of Box Office
Noun
Singular:
box office
Plural:
box-officesOrigin of Box Office
Folk etymology is that this derives from Elizabethan theatre, where theater admission was collected in a box attached to a long stick, passed around the audience. However, first attestation is over a century later (theaters were closed in 1642), making this highly unlikely.
From Wiktionary
-
1786, presumably from sales of boxes, box seats (“separated private seating”). Sense of “total sales” from 1904.
From Wiktionary
So named because it was originally an office for the booking of boxes in a theater
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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