Box

For other uses, see Box (disambiguation).

An elaborate storage box made of wood.

Box (plural boxes) describes a variety of containers and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents. The word derives from the Greek πύξος (puxos), "box, boxwood".

Boxes may be made of durable material such as wood or metal, or of corrugated fiberboard, paperboard, or other non-durable materials. The size may vary from very small (e.g., a matchbox) to the size of a large appliance. A corrugated box is a very common shipping container. When no specific shape is described, a box of rectangular cross-section with all sides flat may be expected, but a box may have a horizontal cross section that is square, elongated, round or oval; sloped or domed top surfaces, or non-vertical sides.

A decorative box may be opened by raising, pulling, sliding or removing the lid, which may be hinged and/or fastened by a catch, clasp, lock, or adhesive tape.

Packaging boxes

An empty box made of corrugated fiberboard

Several types of boxes are used in packaging and storage.

• A corrugated box is a shipping container made of corrugated fiberboard. These are most commonly used to transport and warehouse products during distribution.
• A folding carton (sometimes called a box) is fabricated from paperboard. The paperboard is printed (if necessary), die-cut and scored to form a blank. These are transported and stored flat, and erected at the point of filling. These are used to package a wide range of consumer goods.
  • A variant of the folding carton is the gift box, used for birthday or Christmas gifts and often wrapped in decorative wrapping paper.
• A "set up" box (or rigid paperboard box) is made of a non-bending grade of paperboard. Unlike folding cartons, these are assembled at the point of manufacture and transported already "set-up". Set-up boxes are more expensive than folding boxes and are typically used for protecting high value items such as cosmetics, watches or smaller consumer electronics.
• A wooden box is heavy duty shipping container made of wood. See also crate.
  • A variant of the wooden box is the wooden wine box or wine crate, which is used for shipping and storing expensive wines.
• A bulk box is a large box often used in industrial environments. It is sized to fit well on a pallet.

Depending on locale and specific usage, the terms carton and box are sometimes used interchangeably.

Storage boxes

18th century German gold and mother of pearl snuffbox

Boxes for storing various items in can often be very decorative, as they are intended for permanent use and sometimes put on display.

Main article: Decorative boxes

• A jewelry (AmE) or jewellery (BrE) box, is a box for trinkets or jewels. It can take a very modest form, covered in leather and lined with satin, or be larger and more highly decorated.
• A humidor is a specially designed box for storing cigars at constant humidity and the right temperature.
• A safe, or "strong box", can be a secure lockable box for storing money or highly valuable items, often placed in a wall for increased security.
• A toolbox is used for holding tools of various kinds. Toolboxes are often very sturdy and made to be carried around.

Electrical wall boxes

• Fuse box, holds electrical circuit breaker switches.
• Junction box, a fixed container for electrical connections.

Postal service boxes

• Post box (British English and others, also written postbox), or mailbox (North American English and others) is a physical box used to collect mail that is to be sent to a destination. Variants of post boxes for outgoing mail include:

• Lamp box
• Ludlow wall box
• Pillar box
• Wall box

Boxes where postmen deposit incoming mail for the recipient include:

• Letter box (in the US usually called mailbox), positioned near or on the mail recipient's home or place of work.
• Post office box, (often abbreviated P.O. box or PO box), a lockable box rented by the mail recipient, which is located in a post office or in the premises of a company offering such facilities.

Booths that are sometimes called boxes

See also: Booth (disambiguation)

• Police box, a booth for use by police in 20th century Britain.
• Penalty box, a booth used in sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty.
• Telephone box, a booth containing a public telephone.
• Signal box, a building by a railway to coordinate and control railway signals.

Other boxes

For other uses, see Box (disambiguation).

Clear sided ballot boxes used in the Haitian general election in 2006

• Ballot box, a box in which votes (ballot papers) are deposited during voting.
• Black box, something for which the internal operation is not described but its function is.
• Black box (transportation), a durable data-recording device found in some vehicles, used to assist in the investigation of an accident.
• Box, informal reference to large box-shaped parts of a computer, such as the base unit or tower case of a personal computer.
• Coach Box or the driver's seat on a carriage coach.
• Dispatch box, (or despatch box), a box for holding official papers and transporting them.
• Glory box or Hope Chest, a box or chest containing items typically stored by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life.
• Jack-in-the-box, a children's toy containing a surprise.
• Lunch box, or "lunch pail" or "lunch kit", a rigid container used for carrying food. Can also be decorative.
• Mitre box, a woodworking tool used to guide a hand saw to make precise mitre cuts in a board.
• Nest box, a substitute for a hole in a tree for birds to make a nest in.
• Pandora's box, in Greek mythology, a box containing the evils of mankind and also hope.
• Set-top box, a device used to decode and display TV signals.
• Check box, on paper, normally to check off as opinion or option.

See also

• The Box
• Corrugated box design

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.