Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BOX, n. [Sax. box, a coffer and the box tree; L. buxus, the tree, and pyxis, a box; Gr. πυξις, a box, and πυξος, the tree; πυξ, the fist; Ir. bugsa, buksa; Sw. buxbom; Ger. buchsbaum; D. buxbom, the box tree; Ger. büchse, a box; It. bosso, the box tree; bossolo, a box; Sp. box, the tree; Port. buxo, the tree; buxa, a stopple; Pers. بَقَشْ baxas, buxus, box tree; Ar. the same. Box may be from closeness, applied to the shrub, the fist and the case.]

1. A coffer or chest, either of wood or metal. In general, the word box is used for a case of rough boards, or more slightly made than a chest, and used for the conveyance of goods. But the name is applied to cases of any size and of any materials; as, a wooden box, a tin box, an iron box, a strong box.
2. The quantity that a box contains; as, a box of quicksilver; a box of rings. In some cases, the quantity called a box is fixed by custom; in others, it is uncertain, as a box of tea or sugar.
3. A certain seat in a play-house, or in any public room.
4. The case which contains the mariner's compass.
5. A money chest.
6. A tree or shrub, constituting the genus Buxus, used for bordering flower-beds. The African box is the Myrsine.
7. A blow on the head with the hand, or on the ear with the open hand.
8. A cylindrical hollow iron used in wheels, in which the axle-tree runs. Also, a hollow tube in a pump, closed with a valve.