boxing

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
box1

▶noun

• 1 a container with a flat base and sides and a lid.

  ■ (the box) informal, chiefly Brit. television.

• 2 an area enclosed within straight lines on a page or computer screen, to be filled in with or containing information.

• 3 (the box) Soccer the penalty area.

  ■ Baseball the area occupied by the batter.

• 4 an enclosed area reserved for people in a theatre or sports ground, or for witnesses or the jury in a law court.

• 5 a protective casing for part of a mechanism.

  ■ Brit. a shield for protecting a man's genitals in sport, especially cricket.

• 6 a facility at a newspaper office for receiving replies to an advertisement.

  ■ a facility at a post office whereby letters are kept until collected by the addressee.

• 7 Brit. a small country house used when shooting or fishing.

• 8 historical a coachman's seat.

▶verb

• 1 (often as adj. boxed) put in or provide with a box.

• 2 (box someone in) restrict someone's ability to move freely.

– phrases
out of one's box Brit. informal intoxicated with alcohol or drugs.
think outside the box informal have ideas that are original or creative.

– derivatives
boxful noun (pl. boxfuls),
box-like adjective.

– origin OE, prob. from late L. buxis, from L. pyxis ‘boxwood box’, from Gk puxos (see box3).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
box2

▶verb fight an opponent with the fists in padded gloves as a sport. ▶noun a slap on the side of a person's head.

– phrases
box clever Brit. informal outwit someone.
box someone's ears slap someone on the side of the head.

– derivatives
boxing noun.

– origin ME: of unknown origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
box3 (also box tree)

▶noun a slow-growing evergreen shrub with small glossy leaves, yielding hard wood. [Buxus sempervirens.]

■ any of various other trees with similar foliage or wood.

[Casearia praecox (tropical America) and other species.]

– origin OE, via L. from Gk puxos.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
box4

▶verb (in phr. box the compass) recite the compass points in correct order.

– origin C18: perh. from Sp. bojar ‘sail round’, from Mid. Low Ger. bōgen ‘bend’, from the base of bow1.