ˈsand-box
[f. sand n.2 + box n.2]
1. A box with a perforated top for sprinkling sand as a blotter upon the wet ink of a manuscript. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1572 Huloet (ed. Higins), Sandboxe, or a duste boxe, to spreade dust on writing. 1626 Middleton Women Beware Women iv. ii, He would prick my skull as full of holes as a scrivener's sand-box. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1637/8 Stolen,..a Silver Inkhorn, the Sand box to it left behind. 1740 Swift Will Wks. 1751 XIV. 272, I bequeath to Deane Swift, Esq.;..an Ink Pot, a Sand Box and Bell. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. vi. vi. (1872) II. 187 ‘Erz-Sandstreuer’, who solemnly brings up the Sandbox (no blotting-paper yet in use) when the Holy Roman Empire is pleased to write. |
2. A box holding sand for various purposes; esp. a. A sand-mould. b. A box of sand on a locomotive (see quot. 1849) for use when the wheels slip. c. A receptacle for the sand used to ‘tee’ the ball on a golf course.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 382/2 He beareth Gules, a Lapidaries Sand Box, or Dust Box, covered, Or... In such kind of Boxes with covers, Lapidaries keep their fine Dust of Diamond..made into a kind of Sand. 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 39 So largely has the sand-box superseded the anvil in this manufacture [of scissors]. 1849 Weale Dict. Terms, Sand-boxes, in locomotive engines, boxes filled with sand, usually placed near the driving wheels, with a pipe to guide the sand to the rails. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Sand-Box, a primitive sort of spittoon, consisting of a wooden box filled with sand. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 750 The sand-box [of a sand-blast apparatus]. 1901 Scotsman 5 Nov. 8/4 Proceeding to the sand-box at the first tee. |
d. A small low-sided sand-pit (cf. sand-pit 3). Chiefly U.S.
| 1937 [see huh int.]. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 39 Divided they stand not unlike urchins defying each other in the sandbox. 1969 [see Mickey Mouse 1]. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 8 May 20/4 All the men in her life, from sandbox playmate to lip-smacking savage. |
e. A box kept indoors and filled with sand or other material for a cat to defecate in.
| 1967 L. J. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern viii. 73 Qwilleran showed Koko the new location of his sandbox and gave him his old toy mouse. 1971 J. McClure Steam Pig viii. 98 The Daily Post..an evening rag not worth putting in the cat's sand-box. 1974 M. G. Eberhart Danger Money (1975) iv. 40 I've fixed up a sandbox for the cat. |
3. The fruit of the West Indian forest tree, Hura crepitans. Also, the tree itself.
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 114 The Sand-box Tree. Ibid. 115 These Trees are called Sand-boxes from the Use that is made of their Fruit to that Purpose. 1757 Parsons in Phil. Trans. L. 405 This is undoubtedly the young Sand-box, or fruit of the Hura. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 178 We made our first halt, under a large sand-box-tree. |