bandbox

English

Alternative forms

• band-box

Etymology

band +‎ box

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Noun

bandbox (plural bandboxes)

1. A box of lightweight construction (e.g. cardboard, thin wood) for carrying hats or other apparel items.

   Hypernym: box

   • 1836, Francis Egerton Earl of Ellesmere, Town and Country, page 6:

     There is a dangerous freshness in the hues / Of the new bonnets which that day produces / Bright from the bandbox, be they greens or blues; / The aspect of a new pelisse conduces / To gazings which the gazer often rues.

   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 9, page 208:

     On the evening of Easter Sunday the gypsies of Southern Europe take a wooden vessel like a band-box, which rests cradle-wise on two cross pieces of wood.

2. A small baseball park conducive to scoring home runs.

Derived terms

• bandboxical

References

• Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. New York: Portland House, 1989. →ISBN.