ˈpillar-box
a. A hollow pillar about five feet high, erected in a public place, containing a letter-box or receptacle for posting letters.
| 1858 Brit. Postal Guide 146 A collection is made from the Pillar Boxes at 5 a.m. for the morning mails. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. ix. 300 I've a..letter to write, which you must send to a pillar-box. 1939 ‘J. Struther’ Mrs. Miniver 173 She put on a mackintosh and struggled up the square to the pillar-box. 1978 L. Davidson Chelsea Murders xix. 106 This one had been posted in a street pillar box. |
b. In full, pillar-box red: a shade of red, that of a pillar-box.
| 1916 Sphere 1 July p. iv/1 Some charming chapeaux of the new pillar-box red. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 21 July 16/4 (Advt.), Attractive Dresses of silk crepe, spun silk and silk broadcloth... Shades include black and white, blue..pillar-box red. 1934 Archit. Rev. LXXV. 108/1 It [sc. a built-in gramophone fitment]..is made entirely of laminated boarding painted white on the outside and pillar box red on the inside. 1950 ‘E. Crispin’ Frequent Hearses i. 44 A wind-machine, painted a minatory pillar-box red. 1959 J. Braine Vodi i. 16 Dick thought of the shop... It had been redecorated in pillar-box red and white. 1963 Listener 10 Jan. 84/2, I don't like the colours, especially the Ribena, pillarbox, scrofula, and sulphur. 1970 Vogue Jan. 37/1 (Advt.), Pillar box cotton jersey for the jeans..and cropped T-shirt. 1973 P. Evans Bodyguard Man vi. 50 A small Fiat in pillar-box red swirling round the corner fifty metres away and out of sight. |