outside the box









outside the box


noun

  1. a container, case, or receptacle, usually rectangular, of wood, metal, cardboard, etc., and often with a lid or removable cover.
  2. the quantity contained in a box: She bought a box of candy as a gift.
  3. Chiefly British. a gift or present: a Christmas box.
  4. post-office box.
  5. a compartment or section in a public place, shut or railed off for the accommodation of a small number of people, especially in a theater, opera house, sports stadium, etc.
  6. a small enclosure or area in a courtroom, for witnesses or the jury.
  7. a small shelter: a sentry’s box.
  8. British.
    1. a small house, cabin, or cottage, as for use while hunting: a shooting box.
    2. a telephone booth.
    3. a wardrobe trunk.
  9. box stall.
  10. the driver’s seat on a coach.
  11. the section of a wagon in which passengers or parcels are carried.
  12. Automotive. the section of a truck in which cargo is carried.
  13. the box, Informal. television: Are there any good shows on the box tonight?
  14. part of a page of a newspaper or periodical set off in some manner, as by lines, a border, or white space.
  15. any enclosing, protective case or housing, sometimes including its contents: a gear box; a fire-alarm box.
  16. Baseball.
    1. either of two marked spaces, one on each side of the plate, in which the batter stands.
    2. either of two marked spaces, one outside of first base and the other outside of third, where the coaches stand.
    3. the pitcher’s mound.
    4. the marked space where the catcher stands.
  17. a difficult situation; predicament.
  18. Agriculture. a bowl or pit cut in the side of a tree for collecting sap.
  19. Jazz Slang.
    1. a stringed instrument, as a guitar.
    2. a piano.
  20. Informal.
    1. a phonograph.
    2. a boom box.
    3. a computer.
  21. Slang. a coffin.
  22. Slang: Vulgar.
    1. the vulva or vagina.
    2. basket(def 9).

verb (used with object)

  1. to put into a box: She boxed the glassware before the movers came.
  2. to enclose or confine as in a box (often followed by in or up).
  3. to furnish with a box.
  4. to form into a box or the shape of a box.
  5. to block so as to keep from passing or achieving better position (often followed by in): The Ferrari was boxed in by two other cars on the tenth lap.
  6. to group together for consideration as one unit: to box bills in the legislature.
  7. Building Trades. to enclose or conceal (a building or structure) as with boarding.
  8. Agriculture. to make a hole or cut in (a tree) for sap to collect.
  9. to mix (paint, varnish, or the like) by pouring from one container to another and back again.
  10. Australian.
    1. to mix groups of sheep that should be kept separated.
    2. to confuse someone or something.

Verb Phrases

  1. box out, Basketball. to position oneself between an opposing player and the basket to hinder the opposing player from rebounding or tipping in a shot; block out.

Idioms

  1. out of the box, Australian Slang. remarkable or exceptional; extraordinary.
  2. outside the box, Informal. in an innovative or unconventional manner; with a fresh perspective: You have to think outside the box and adapt those strategies to your business.Also out of the box.

noun

  1. a receptacle or container made of wood, cardboard, etc, usually rectangular and having a removable or hinged lid
  2. Also called: boxful the contents of such a receptacle or the amount it can containhe ate a whole box of chocolates
  3. any of various containers for a specific purposea money box; letter box
  4. (often in combination) any of various small cubicles, kiosks, or sheltersa telephone box or callbox; a sentry box; a signal box on a railway
  5. a separate compartment in a public place for a small group of people, as in a theatre or certain restaurants
  6. an enclosure within a courtroomSee jury box, witness box
  7. a compartment for a horse in a stable or a vehicleSee loosebox, horsebox
  8. British a small country house occupied by sportsmen when following a field sport, esp shooting
    1. a protective housing for machinery or mechanical parts
    2. the contents of such a box
    3. (in combination)a gearbox
  9. a shaped device of light tough material worn by sportsmen to protect the genitals, esp in cricket
  10. a section of printed matter on a page, enclosed by lines, a border, or white space
  11. a central agency to which mail is addressed and from which it is collected or redistributeda post-office box; to reply to a box number in a newspaper advertisement
  12. the central part of a computer or the casing enclosing it
  13. short for penalty box
  14. baseball either of the designated areas in which the batter may stand
  15. the raised seat on which the driver sits in a horse-drawn coach
  16. NZ a wheeled container for transporting coal in a mine
  17. Australian and NZ an accidental mixing of herds or flocks
  18. a hole cut into the base of a tree to collect the sap
  19. short for Christmas box
  20. a device for dividing water into two or more ditches in an irrigation system
  21. an informal name for a coffin
  22. taboo, slang the female genitals
  23. be a box of birds NZ to be very well indeed
  24. the box British informal television
  25. think outside the box or think out of the box to think in a different, innovative, or original manner, esp with regard to business practices, products, systems, etc
  26. tick all the boxes to satisfy all of the apparent requirements for success
  27. out of the box Australian informal outstanding or excellenta day out of the box

verb

  1. (tr) to put into a box
  2. (tr ; usually foll by in or up) to prevent from moving freely; confine
  3. (tr foll by in) printing to enclose (text) within a ruled frame
  4. (tr) to make a cut in the base of (a tree) in order to collect the sap
  5. (tr) Australian and NZ to mix (flocks or herds) accidentally
  6. (tr sometimes foll by up) NZ to confuseI am all boxed up
  7. nautical short for boxhaul
  8. box the compass nautical to name the compass points in order

verb

  1. (tr) to fight (an opponent) in a boxing match
  2. (intr) to engage in boxing
  3. (tr) to hit (a person) with the fist; punch or cuff
  4. box clever to behave in a careful and cunning way

noun

  1. a punch with the fist, esp on the ear

noun

  1. a dense slow-growing evergreen tree or shrub of the genus Buxus, esp B. sempervirens, which has small shiny leaves and is used for hedges, borders, and garden mazes: family Buxaceae
  2. the wood of this treeSee boxwood (def. 1)
  3. any of several trees the timber or foliage of which resembles this tree, esp various species of Eucalyptus with rough bark

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,” 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. 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. v.2“to beat or whip,” late 14c., from box (n.2). Meaning “to fight with the fists” is from 1560s. Related: Boxed; boxing. v.1“to put into storage, put into a box,” mid-15c., from box (n.1). Related: Boxed; boxing. In addition to the idioms beginning with box

  • box office
  • box score
  • box the compass
  • also see:

  • in a bind (box)
  • on one’s soapbox
  • pandora’s box
  • stuff the ballot box
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