<B>box coat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an overcoat with a straight, unfitted back. <DD><B> 2. </B>a heavy, warm overcoat formerly worn by the driver and passengers on a coach. </DL>
<A NAME="boxelder">
<B>box elder,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a North American maple tree, often grown for ornament. The box elder has compound leaves. These trees have soft wood and the branches break easily. </DL>
<A NAME="boxer">
<B>boxer</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a man who fights with his fists as a sport, usually with padded gloves according to special rules; pugilist. <DD><B> 2. </B>a medium-sized dog with a smooth, brown coat, related to the bulldog and terrier. </DL>
<A NAME="boxer">
<B>boxer</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or machine that packs things in boxes. </DL>
<A NAME="boxer">
<B>Boxer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a Chinese secret society opposed to foreigners and Christianity. The Boxers rose in arms in 1900 in the northern provinces of China in an effort to expel foreigners from China. They besieged the legations at Peking for two months, but were defeated by an international force of foreign soldiers. </DL>
<A NAME="boxershorts">
<B>boxer shorts,</B> or <B>boxers, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>short, loose trousers with an elastic waistband, worn by boxers. <DD><B> 2. </B>similar shorts worn especially as underpants or swimming trunks. </DL>
<A NAME="boxes">
<B>boxes, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> See under <B>box</B> (1). </DL>
<A NAME="boxfamily">
<B>box family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a family of tropical or subtropical evergreen trees, shrubs, and herbs with leathery leaves and inconspicuous flowers, several of which, including boxwood and Japanese spurge, are widely grown for ornament. </DL>
<A NAME="boxfish">
<B>boxfish, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fishes</B> or (collectively) <B>-fish.</B> =trunkfish.</DL>
<A NAME="boxful">
<B>boxful, </B>noun, pl. <B>-fuls.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the amount that a box can hold. <DD><B> 2. </B>the contents of a box. </DL>
<A NAME="boxhaul">
<B>box-haul, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to veer (a square-rigged ship) round sharply by throwing the yards on the foremast aback and thus turning the ship's head quickly. </DL>
<A NAME="boxholder">
<B>boxholder, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who owns or rents a box, as in a post office or theater. </DL>
<A NAME="boxing">
<B>boxing</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the action or sport of fighting with the fists. Boxers usually wear well-padded leather gloves. </DL>
<A NAME="boxing">
<B>boxing</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the material used for boxes. <DD><B> 2. </B>the act or process of putting into or furnishing with a box. <DD><B> 3. </B>a boxlike enclosure; casing. <DD><B> 4. </B>the sides of a window. </DL>
<A NAME="boxingday">
<B>Boxing Day,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in Great Britain and some parts of the Commonwealth) the first weekday after Christmas; December 26 or 27. It is a legal holiday on which employees, servants, postmen, errand boys, and others who perform personal services, receive Christmas boxes. When it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday is celebrated as the legal holiday. </DL>
<A NAME="boxinggloves">
<B>boxing gloves,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the padded leather gloves worn when boxing. </DL>
<A NAME="boxiron">
<B>box iron,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a hollow flatiron heated by an insert of hot metal, no longer used. </DL>
<A NAME="boxjacket">
<B>box jacket,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a loose jacket with fitted shoulders and unfitted back, having a square, boxlike shape. <DD><B> 2. </B>an overcoat of similar design; box coat. </DL>
<A NAME="boxkite">
<B>box kite,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tailless kite consisting of two rectangular boxes with open ends, fastened together lengthwise with a space between. </DL>
<A NAME="boxloom">
<B>box loom,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a loom with more than one shuttle box at either end of the lathe. </DL>
<A NAME="boxlunch">
<B>box lunch,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a ready-made, prepackaged lunch, usually inside a paper box or container. </DL>
<A NAME="boxman">
<B>boxman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a person who weighs the charges for a blast furnace. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who attends to boxes used in washing coal. <DD><B> 3. </B>a person who fills boxes of any sort. </DL>
<A NAME="boxoffice">
<B>box office,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the office or booth in a theater, hall, or stadium, where tickets of admission are sold. <DD><B> 2. </B>the money taken in at such a place. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal.) an entertainer or entertainment capable of attracting audiences and earning money. </DL>
<A NAME="boxoffice">
<B>box-office, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>with respect to receipts taken in at a box office. <BR> <I>Ex. The popular play was an astounding box-office success.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>popular and profitable. <BR> <I>Ex. This concert isn't box-office.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="boxoyster">
<B>box oyster,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a large, high-grade oyster, formerly packed in boxes instead of barrels. </DL>
<A NAME="boxpleat">
<B>box pleat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a double pleat with the cloth folded under at each side. </DL>
<A NAME="boxroom">
<B>boxroom, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a storeroom, especially for boxes, trunks, unwanted furniture, and other household miscellany. </DL>
<A NAME="boxscore">
<B>box score,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a statistical summary of all the plays of a baseball game arranged in a table by the names of the players. </DL>
<A NAME="boxseat">
<B>box seat,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a chair or seat in a box at a theater, hall, stadium, grandstand, or race track. </DL>
<A NAME="boxset">
<B>box set,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a stage set in which the back and sidewalls are visible to the audience. </DL>
<A NAME="boxsocial">
<B>box social,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a social gathering, usually to raise money, at which boxes of food or gifts are raffled or auctioned. <BR> <I>Ex. The Ladies Auxiliary of the 19th Alberta Dragoons held a successful box social and dance (Edmonton Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="boxspanner">
<B>box spanner,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Especially British.) a box wrench. </DL>
<A NAME="boxspring">
<B>box spring,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a set of bedsprings in a boxlike frame with padding over them, covered with ticking or some other firmly woven material. </DL>
<A NAME="boxstall">
<B>box stall,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a roomy, enclosed compartment for a horse or other large animal in a stable or vehicle; box. </DL>
<A NAME="boxtail">
<B>box tail,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a tail or rudder used on certain early aircraft and shaped somewhat like a box kite. </DL>
<A NAME="boxthorn">
<B>boxthorn, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various ornamental shrubs of the nightshade family, some of which are grown for their bright-red or orange berries; matrimony vine. </DL>
<A NAME="boxtoe">
<B>box toe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a toe in shoes or boots with a stiff, strong lining. <BR> <I>Ex. Thermoplastic material ... is used for hard box toes (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the lining used. </DL>
<A NAME="boxtop">
<B>box top,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the top part or cover of a packaged product, usually bearing the brand name, used as evidence of purchase by a consumer to obtain a premium. <BR> <I>Ex. Buy the merchandise and send the box top off with a coin in return for all sorts of items (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="boxtrap">
<B>box trap,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a trap for catching small animals alive, consisting of an inclined box which drops flat when a baited trigger is disturbed or a box with a flap or flaps that drop down. </DL>
<A NAME="boxturtle">
<B>box turtle</B> or <B>tortoise,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several species of American land turtles, which can withdraw entirely within their shells and close them by hinges in the lower halves. </DL>
<B>boxwood, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the hard, fine-grained wood of the box, much used for wood engraver's blocks, and for musical and mathematical instruments. <DD><B> 2. </B>the tree or shrub itself. <DD><B> 3. </B>any one of various shrubs or trees with a hard, compact wood, such as the flowering dogwood of the United States. </DL>
<A NAME="boxwork">
<B>boxwork, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a colorful network of calcite crystals, usually found on the ceilings of caves. </DL>
<A NAME="boxwrench">
<B>box wrench,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a kind of wrench which fits completely around the bolthead; socket wrench. </DL>
<A NAME="boxy">
<B>boxy, </B>adjective, <B>boxier,</B> <B>boxiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>shaped like a box; square; squat. <BR> <I>Ex. a boxy house.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>loose-fitting with straight lines, as a box coat. noun <B>boxiness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="boy">
<B>boy, </B>noun, interjection.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a male child from birth to about eighteen. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a lad of mettle, a good boy (Shakespeare).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a young or immature man. <BR> <I>Ex. a college boy.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Informal.) man; fellow. <DD><B> 3. </B>a male servant. <DD><B> 4. </B>a bellboy. <DD><B> 5. </B>(U.S. Slang.) a black male of any age (used in an unfriendly way). <DD><I>interj. </I> (Informal.) an exclamation of surprise, dismay, etc.. <BR> <I>Ex. Boy! Isn't it hot!</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>the boys,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>the sons of a family. </I> <I>Ex. The boys will be home for Thanksgiving.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Informal.) a strictly male company. <BR> <I>Ex. The card game at the lodge is for the boys only.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>(Informal.) political followers; hangers-on. <BR> <I>Ex. Machine politicians ... always want someone who will be kind to 'the boys' (New York Evening Post).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="boyar">
<B>boyar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a former high-ranking order of the Russian aristocracy, abolished by Peter the Great. <DD><B> 2. </B>a member of a former privileged class in Romania. <BR> <I>Ex. The government took the estates of the large landowners, or boyars, and sold them in small lots to small farmers (Alvin Z. Rubinstein).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="boyard">
<B>boyard, </B>noun. =boyar.</DL>
<A NAME="boyau">
<B>boyau, </B>noun, pl. <B>boyaux.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Military Science.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a connecting trench. <DD><B> 2. </B>a branch or small gallery of a mine. </DL>
