BOX

Meaning of BOX in English

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a (big) box office draw (= a successful actor who many people will pay to see )

a box of chocolates (= a box of small sweets covered with chocolate )

▪

I gave Mum a box of chocolates for her birthday.

a boxing/tennis/golf etc champion

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The show will be opened by the former world boxing champion, Chris Eubank.

a commentary box (= a small room where the commentators on a sports game sit )

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He was in the commentary box, microphone in hand.

a (huge) box office hit/success

a sealed container/box/plastic bag

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The specimens he collected were sent back to London in sealed containers.

ballot box

▪

The people have expressed their views through the ballot box.

black box

boom box

box canyon

box end wrench

box junction

box lunch

box number

box office receipts/takings etc (= the number of tickets sold or the money received )

box office

▪

Collect your tickets at the box office.

box room

Boxing Day

boxing gloves

▪

The trainer laced up Mike's boxing gloves.

call box

cash box

chocolate box

▪

He had grown tired of the chocolate box views.

collection box

dialogue box

dispatch box

fuse box

hat box

honesty box

jury box

music box

Pandora's box

▪

The report could open up a Pandora’s box of claims from similar cases.

penalty box

phone box

pillar box

PO Box

▪

Write to P.O. Box 714, Key Largo, Florida.

post office box

press box

safe-deposit box

safety-deposit box

sentry box

set-top box

shadow boxing

signal box

snuff box (= a small box used to keep snuff in )

▪

a snuff box

telephone box

the witness box/stand (= where the witness sits when speaking in court )

▪

He spent three hours in the witness stand.

tick...box

▪

Just tick the box on your order form.

voice box

window box

witness box

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

big

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A big box with a small meal inside.

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Some are predicting that malls could have a more varied tenant mix, with more big-box retailers moving in.

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Teacher: If you found a bigger box could we add it to the train for me to sit in?

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But in the evening, one of them would buy a big box of doughnuts, and no one could resist.

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I could see the neighbours looking curiously at the big box he had with him.

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That bed is a big box he is built by himself, make out of one piece wood.

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There's a big box there.

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Big box retailer For several years, Home Depot, a big box retailer of hardware, has sought a port site.

black

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A second later there was a loud click and buzz which could only be the black box alarm being activated.

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New investigative techniques have opened up the black box of the brain and have begun to shed light on its inner workings.

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They're still looking for his black box .

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A long black box passed at their feet.

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But the congressional intelligence committees are like a black box .

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So another crew will come back to many neighborhoods to install the black boxes .

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Clearly, if not the ghost, then the organism in the black box could not be ignored.

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It was a matt black plastic box .

cardboard

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In one street, the pavement is stacked with cardboard boxes of Toshiba television sets.

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He has been seen in the square scooping the birds into a cardboard box 40 at a time.

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Next to me a lady with a perforated cardboard box .

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Mrs Vanya came back in just a few moments, carrying a very large white cardboard box .

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In the center of the room sat a stack of cardboard boxes that had once held equipment.

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He opened the cardboard box and took out each item, greeting each like an old friend.

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Everything was still in his suitcase; he put the clothes in a cardboard shirt box .

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I ended up putting the cardboard from that box in the bottoms of my shoes.

huge

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Detroit did huge box office, but, damn, the picture was becoming scary.

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While she happily cavorted, I crept up to the huge white smooth box and gingerly touched it.

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He nipped out to the off-licence at lunchtime and bought her a huge box of chocolates.

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He held two huge boxes of mushrooms.

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My men saw that huge box on the water, and we decided to pull it along behind the ship.

large

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Dismayed, Romanov knelt down to study the two larger boxes , both of which looked big enough to hold a cello.

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She walks back to her desk, takes out a large yellow box of chocolates and passes them around the room.

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When they got near the large boxes , Christopher stood up inside the car and lifted it round to turn it.

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Mrs Vanya came back in just a few moments, carrying a very large white cardboard box .

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Simply putting them all into a large box is a totally impractical approach.

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A volunteer from Project Open Hand was standing in their doorway holding a large box decorated with streamers and balloons.

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She shut the trunk and moved on to a large cardboard box .

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The antenna was stored in a large box atop Spartan.

little

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Then you take out the little plastic box from your jacket and show him the syringe needle.

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That little box is the most powerful thing in the world.

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The top right-hand drawer of the desk contained the traditional little tin box and a pistol.

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We got to looking at it so till I almost forgot the little box in my hand.

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I've got the whole weight of the whole earth pressing in on this little box .

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Travel abroad should have compensated her somehow for the little social box that tennis built.

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You'd be lonely, stuck in that little box for hours on end.

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With the windows all boarded up, that little box went up in a big wham.

open

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She was reading a mail-order catalogue, and had an open half-pound box of Black Magic chocolates beside her.

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He taps each envelope on the edge of the door to the open boxes as he searches for the name.

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Ensure broken glass and other sharp items are thoroughly wrapped or left in a marked open box .

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All I had to do was open my box of colored paper, and I felt better, happy, really.

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She was, however, also well-to-do, so she compromised by sitting in the open box next to the screened harem ones.

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In his relief, he dropped his pouch and as he stooped the open box of matches spilled around his feet.

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They sat round his candle, waiting for him, with the open box in front of them.

red

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Chromes: sit on your side and puzzles from the Red Cross box .

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Now it was far too late for a red box and a black Rover.

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There is no shortage of uses for the red boxes .

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It's in a red box .

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One red box is actually the entrance to the bar.

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How my heart leaped to see a red pillar box once more, on the other side of the compound!

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John gives Mary the coin, she hides it in the red box for safe-keeping and departs.

small

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In such a small box as Alwyn Crawshaw's I would not recommend compartments which restrict space in effect.

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I built a small , mirrored box , and I bought a color-changing lizard and placed it inside.

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But this small orange box produced by a Thame company could help prevent such accidents in the future.

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After a few years Brown began making safes, ranging from high-use restaurant systems to small custom boxes .

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Lay out the small , smooth wooden blocks or small boxes where the living compartments for the ants are to be.

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They consist of a small box built of fear.

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It was a small black box , rather like the Thing, mounted on little treads.

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A small box attached to the meter would separate the data signal from the electricity.

wooden

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Here I cut down several of the largest trees with my knife, and made two wooden boxes .

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Professor Marsh eventually took almost five hundred ton-sized wooden boxes of bones from the Como Bluff quarries.

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There was an ironing-board, two kitchen chairs and a couple of broken wooden boxes snaked around the front room.

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For modern sculpture, galleries use a tall wooden box , stained or painted.

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To the right a padlocked wooden box was fixed to the grille.

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Jasper and I went into a few more galleries, saw things even less worth looking at than the giant wooden boxes .

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I didn't mind; it kept my thoughts off morbid fancies about Granny in her wooden box .

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It was a little wooden box with houses painted on it.

■ NOUN

ballot

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No society which believes in democratic values can allow the ballot box to be overridden by the bomb and the bullet.

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Only the last two ballot boxes overturned his lead.

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Accordingly, that liberty need not seek refuge at the ballot box .

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In the meantime, the Polytechnic will still use old-fashioned ballot boxes .

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H.. Doing traffic engineering at the ballot box is fools' work.

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A Government which is not accountable through the ballot box is not a democratic Government.

▪

Haider and his followers have been gradually building their support at the ballot box for the past decade.

cash

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Possibly somewhere between 1901 and the present, Bobsworth had been caught with his hand in the cash box .

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They were arrested three weeks later in Liverpool when they were again seen to remove the cash box from a kiosk.

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Clinic raided: Burglars stole about £100 from a cash box at the clinic in Zetland Street, Northallerton.

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Responsibility for the photocopier cash box . 9.

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Jewellery has always been the Arabian woman's cash box .

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The imprest would also be £3.77, so that the petty cash box contains £20 for the next day.

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Phone cash goes Thieves broke into a cash box in a telephone kiosk at Braintree railway station and stole about £300.

deposit

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Bedrooms are simply furnished with telephone and safety deposit box .

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Where is your safe deposit box , and the keys to it?

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Bedrooms have mini-bar and safety deposit box .

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One item that intrigued them was a key to a safe deposit box , which was apparently left for them to find.

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Bedrooms, served by a lift, have telephone and safety deposit box .

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Their customary practice was to deposit receipts in the night deposit box at that branch.

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The hotel bedrooms all have safety deposit box and telephone.

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The bedrooms do not have a safety deposit box .

dialogue

▪

The standard file is accessed by many applications to provide the dialogue box which allows files to be opened and saved.

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Whenever a file is opened or saved a number of extra buttons appear in the dialogue box .

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This dialogue box will search for data within set criteria, extract it and write it to a pre-defined output block.

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A dialogue box will appear asking you whether you want a new Program Group or a new Program Item.

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Step 7 Close the dialogue box and click on the icon to produce a quote.

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All the dialogue boxes are familiar from other Windows applications.

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This brings up a dialogue box , where you type in the necessary alterations.

junction

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But we need explosives to take out the island or the junction box up above.

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Fans up to 35 pounds can be installed in a secured junction box , but anything heavier will need additional support.

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This in turn led to the arm and gun junction boxes being redesigned horizontally next to each other rather than grouped centrally at the front.

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With the junction box method of wiring, you may simply be able to re-use the cable for the new light fitting.

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Option 1 is to connect the supply cable as a spur to an existing loop-in ceiling rose or junction box .

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Draw the cables up into the ceiling void, and reconnect them to a four-terminal junction box .

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Not that you could take what was left of your mind off the sockets and the junction boxes .

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Option 3 involves making a brand new connection to an existing lighting circuit at a convenient point, using a four-terminal junction box .

jury

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His eyes rarely left the jury box except occasionally to peer down at his notes.

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The jury box is set off by a walnut rail and descending baubles, round spheres of beautifully grained wood.

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The judge leaned forward to tell Menzies that he could be seated and then turned slowly towards the Jury box .

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He approached the rail of the jury box .

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Reporters and court personnel occupied the jury box .

letter

▪

Cutting letter box slots in doors is a job most of us have to do once or twice in a decade.

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All of it divvied up, who you talked to, where you walked, which letter box you posted your mail.

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Frankie was a nice little thing actually, when there were no screams coming from that amazing letter box mouth.

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I shudder to think what I should do when her next social invitation arrives in the letter box !

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I glued up the cat flap. 1 sprayed the letter box with insect repellent.

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But there are professionals for whom this is a daily task, for them Trend have made an adjustable letter box template.

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I mean, she could've burnt the house down that night she put the lighted paper through the letter box .

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He was pressed against the wood face, his hips hard on to the letter box , and he cursed the slow reaction.

lunch

▪

I can remember that I wanted a care bears lunch box .

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When he finishes his supper, the boy tucks the lunch box back into a shopping bag and closes his eyes.

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A lunch box is opened, and a cluster of plastic and aluminium jewels gleam from inside.

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Leave a Surprise Leave behind a special note to be put into a lunch box or under a pillow.

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I picked up my lunch box and I walked to school.

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Forty-four little hands gather up coats and lunch boxes and forty-four little feet head down the hall to go home.

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I could now see that Richie was providing the sandwiches from the plastic lunch box , perched on his lap.

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Plastic Lunch boxes , food storage containers, etc, may melt if stacked close to the heating elements.

music

▪

He came up to the house that evening, armed with the music box and the monkey.

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The sweet, tinkling sound of a music box can stir recollections of everything from childhood to first love.

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Does he prefer soft music boxes or rhythmic beats?

office

▪

Julia Roberts' beauty didn't stop Pretty Woman becoming a smash at the box office .

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Reserve tickets in advance by calling the box office at 622-2823.

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He was good box office and managements fell over themselves to get his name on their marquees.

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Went into orbit at the box office , too.

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The winners will be notified tomorrow and they can pick up their tickets at the box office .

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He and Eng reasoned that box office receipts would help pay the way back to Los Angeles.

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Application forms are available from the box office or sent with your tickets.

penalty

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The money is to go in a penalty box kept by Grandmother; the proceeds will go to a charity.

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Officials sent offenders to the penalty box left and right.

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O'Connell's header found Graham completely unmarked inside the penalty box but Goram did enough to touch the ball on to the bar.

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If two-minute penalties were handed out for four-letter words, Newman would still be in the penalty box .

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Everton bounced back when Barlow smashed a stunning volley from the edge of the penalty box .

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I can't help thinking that the battle in the penalty box tomorrow will be just as vital.

phone

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She claims she has been forced to wait for him to call her from phone boxes .

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I rang his sister from a public phone box .

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She spotted the out-of-order phone box and drew up beside it.

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Miracle: a phone box empty.

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Charlie'd said he wanted to phone Lilian and when I come back over the road he was in a phone box .

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When it was safe to do so, Stone entered the phone box and began to make his calls.

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Now we haven't even got the phone box .

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Police, alerted by a motorist who dashed to a phone box , organised a replacement ambulance.

plastic

▪

He pulled the small plastic box free and laid it on top of the crate, fumbling in his jacket pocket for something.

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Then you take out the little plastic box from your jacket and show him the syringe needle.

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The plastic box was about seven inches long and five across.

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One tactic is simply to shield the device, by enclosing it in a metal or plastic box of low impedance.

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So I packed my plastic box , and off I went.

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Forget all the images you have of little plastic boxes and bored housewives.

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They're asking people to look out for the substances which were in a large grey plastic box .

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Once they can sit up, babies love to bash saucepans, plastic boxes , biscuit tins, cupboards and fireguards.

press

▪

The young Sri Lankan scorer in the press box awarded it to Manuel.

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My duty was to run statistical information and other paperwork from trackside up to the press box .

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Armed guards stood on the stairs to the press box .

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Awnings on top of the press box were damaged.

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In the press box , the sports reporters are already writing her into their leads.

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It is aimed at him from the darkened press box .

set

▪

The box set has given a history to popular music, by providing perspective.

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The box set has given stature to popular and obscure artists, by providing context.

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Every artist should be allowed to design the retrospective box set that will define a lifetime, as has Santana.

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Do old radio broadcasts, minor record labels and second-rate artists merit box sets ?

signal

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Approaching the signal box he mounted the steps, the hand-rail creaking as he used it for support.

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A class D9 No. 6028 departs southwards, seen from the signal box .

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With the modernisation of the railway system, Brooke End signal box was abandoned, its structure left to stand forlorn.

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He walked along Platform 2 and noticed smoke coming from the signal box .

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Between the years 1902-1902, there was actually a signal box situated well inside the Woodhead tunnel.

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A typical branch line country station complete with signal box has been created.

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Terror gripped the two men as they ran as fast as they could away from the ghostly train towards Elsham signal box .

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There is a signal box at each end, East and West also the Breakdown Vans, ready when they are wanted.

telephone

▪

The first telephone boxes were designed by Sir Giles Scott in 1935, they were made of cast iron.

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Cash stolen: Thieves who broke into Bishop Auckland bowling pavilion stole money from a telephone box .

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And that phone call ... Part of it was overheard by one of the village ladies waiting just outside the telephone box .

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Look out for the old red telephone box which stands nearby.

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One broker was found to be operating from a telephone box at Heathrow airport.

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Local government could meet in a telephone box because function is not important.

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On the way back, she made me wait on the bench outside the telephone box .

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Until recently, 1p coins topped the league when it came to money lost in or near telephone boxes .

window

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He often writes home about his window boxes .

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There, perched on the window box with her nose glued to the other side of the glass, was Violet.

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If you don't have one, get a window box or hanging basket.

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What if Saddle River, New Jersey, has a lot of window boxes ?

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Most gardeners will want to grow them in hanging baskets, window boxes and tubs.

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Balconies and window boxes along canyon walls maintained refugia of plants and animals hundreds of miles from their core distributions.

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Worth considering are species producing six or more flowers per bulb - Tete A Tete is ideal for window boxes .

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Plants stood in tubs and window boxes , in terra-cotta pots on the steps.

witness

▪

Evidence depends upon witnesses and, to some extent, their credibility is dependent upon their performance in the witness box .

▪

As it was, when she left the witness box she also left everyone in court in considerable doubt.

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As the Inspector stepped out of the witness box I felt confident enough to look him straight in the eye.

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However, his appearance in the witness box in support of Gary Blissett in the John Uzzell case was plain barmy.

▪

Hodgson was in the witness box yesterday for the first time in the trial - now in its fifth week.

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Paul Menzies left the dock and walked slowly over to the witness box .

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However, the theme of attempting to discredit the woman in the witness box continues.

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Graham Kelly should be putting his own house in order, not making guest appearances in the witness box .

■ VERB

tick

▪

Could I tick the box in my bird book?

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In comparison, John Harrison offered the world a little ticking thing in a box .

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They only have to tick the boxes .

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Further details of these special loan schemes can be obtained by ticking the appropriate box on the attached coupon.

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Mercifully, the Windows shell offers you tick boxes instead of command line switches to make life a little easier.

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If you wish to take advantage of this option, simply tick the appropriate box on the application form.

▪

And if you'd like to see the full collection just tick the box on your order form for the complete Essentials.

▪

Please tick the box which best expresses your opinion.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

nest of tables/boxes etc

▪

Charles Forster, prosecuting, said Ganguly had stolen a nest of tables and was seen by police.

▪

The Anglo-Nubians posed like a nest of tables by the ropes.

not the sharpest tool in the box/shed

open a Pandora's box

▪

I've opened Pandora's box.

▪

The internet has opened a Pandora's box of threats: its demons have been loosed on us all.

the ballot box

▪

The issue will be decided at the ballot box.

▪

The voters have expressed their views at the ballot box.

▪

They are determined to win power through the ballot box, not by violence.

the dispatch box

think outside the box

tick all the right boxes

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

a cardboard box

▪

Check this box if you would like information about our other products.

▪

five wooden boxes

▪

The box on the left gives a short history of the Alamo.

▪

the batter's box

▪

the penalty box

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

After building your own machine you certainly will not be worried about opening the box !

▪

All the complex calculations are built into the software; all you do is enter the numbers in the right boxes.

▪

For instance: Ban all polystyrene, such as packing chips, meat trays and some egg boxes.

▪

I did not want to die impaled on a boom box during midair turbulence.

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I go back over the contents of the boxes, particularly some correspondence I had not examined.

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It comes from a collection of letters I found in a box at the top of the attic.

▪

The young Sri Lankan scorer in the press box awarded it to Manuel.

▪

We need only your blue box .

II. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

▪

Nearly all the pews were boxed in , the panels chest-height, narrow doors allowing entry.

▪

Rather than seeing a light at the end of the sanctions tunnel, Hussein felt increasingly boxed in .

▪

Her coach told her she lost some time by getting boxed in , time she could recover in her next race.

▪

Even when you have the problem boxed in on three sides, it can still escape.

■ NOUN

ear

▪

She'd just box a few ears , knock a few heads together like she did with the Rattries, and chase them off.

▪

Hera seizing the bow of Artemis from her shoulders and boxing her ears with it this way and that.