Box describes a variety of container

Container

Container may refer to:* Items used to contain, store, and transport products, such as:** Carton** Bottle** Can , several meanings* Shipping containers include** Crate** Wooden box...

s and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents. The word derives from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 πύξος (puxos), "box, boxwood".

Boxes may be made of durable material such as wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 or metal

Metal

A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...

, or of corrugated fiberboard, paperboard

Paperboard

Paperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...

, or other non-durable materials. The size may vary from very small (e.g., a match

Match

A match is a tool for starting a fire under controlled conditions. A typical modern match is made of a small wooden stick or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface...

box) to the size of a large appliance. A corrugated box is a very common shipping container

Shipping container

A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes...

. When no specific shape is described, a box of rectangular

Rectangle

In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is any quadrilateral with four right angles. The term "oblong" is occasionally used to refer to a non-square rectangle...

 cross-section with all sides flat may be expected, but a box may have a horizontal cross section

Cross section (geometry)

In geometry, a cross-section is the intersection of a figure in 2-dimensional space with a line, or of a body in 3-dimensional space with a plane, etc...

 that is square

Square (geometry)

In geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral. This means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles...

, elongated, round

Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....

 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

Fastener

A fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together.Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container,...

, lock

Lock (device)

A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object or secret information , or combination of more than one of these....

, or adhesive tape

Adhesive tape

Adhesive tape is one of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive. Several types of adhesives can be used.-Types:Pressure sensitive tape...

.

A common storage box usually has the shape of a cuboid

Cuboid

In geometry, a cuboid is a solid figure bounded by six faces, forming a convex polyhedron. There are two competing definitions of a cuboid in mathematical literature...

 or right rectangular prism

Prism (geometry)

In geometry, a prism is a polyhedron with an n-sided polygonal base, a translated copy , and n other faces joining corresponding sides of the two bases. All cross-sections parallel to the base faces are the same. Prisms are named for their base, so a prism with a pentagonal base is called a...

, although boxes of almost any shape may be used.

Packaging boxes

Several types of boxes are used in packaging and storage.

• A corrugated box
  Corrugated box design
  Corrugated box design is the process of matching design factors for corrugated fiberboard boxes with the functional physical, processing and end-use requirements...
  
   is a shipping container
  Shipping container
  A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes...
  
   made of corrugated fiberboard. These are most commonly used to transport and warehouse products during distribution.
• A folding carton
  Carton
  Carton is the name of certain types of containers typically made from paperboard which is also sometimes known as cardboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging. Sometimes a carton is also called a box.-Folding cartons:...
  
   (sometimes called a box) is fabricated from paperboard
  Paperboard
  Paperboard is a thick paper based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker than paper. According to ISO standards, paperboard is a paper with a basis weight above 224 g/m2, but there are exceptions. Paperboard can be single...
  
  . 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 "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 high value items such as cosmetics and gift boxes.
• A wooden box
  Wooden box
  A wooden box is a container made of wood for storage or as a shipping container.Construction may include several types of wood; lumber , plywood, engineered woods, etc...
  
   is heavy duty shipping container made of wood. See also crate
  Crate
  A crate is a large shipping container, often made of wood, typically used to transport large, heavy or awkward items. A crate has a self-supporting structure, with or without sheathing. For a wooden container to be a crate, all six of its sides must be put in place to result in the rated strength...
  
  .
• A bulk box is a large box often used in industrial environments. It is sized to fit well on a pallet
  Pallet
  A pallet , sometimes called a skid, is a flat transport structure that supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, pallet jack, front loader or other jacking device. A pallet is the structural foundation of a unit load which allows handling and storage efficiencies...
  
  .

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

Wooden wine box

Wooden wine boxes stick box, also known as wooden wine crates are used to ship and store expensive wines in transit. Most wineries that use wooden boxes engrave their logo and designs on the front panel. These panels are usually highly detailed and used by wine collectors as decoration pieces for their bars or wine cellars. A typical wooden wine box holds either six or twelve 750 ml bottles.

Permanent boxes

Numerous types of boxes are used in permanent installations.
Permanent boxes may include the following:

Compartments

• Mailbox
  Letter box
  A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
  
  
• Luxury box
  Luxury box
  A Luxury box is a special seating section located within stadiums, arenas and other sporting and entertainment venues. They are typically located in the midsection of a stadium grandstand, usually providing the best views of the event...
  
  
• Safe
  Safe
  A safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal or formed out of plastic through blow molding...
  
   or "Strong box"
• Junction box
  Junction box
  An electrical junction box is a container for electrical connections, usually intended to conceal them from sight and meter tampering. A small metal or plastic junction box may form part of an electrical conduit wiring system in a building, or may be buried in the plaster of a wall, concealed...
  
  
• Humidor
  Humidor
  A humidor is any kind of box or room with constant humidity, and ideal temperature, used to store cigars, cigarettes, or pipe tobacco. For private use, small wooden or acrylic glass humidor boxes for a few dozen cigars are used, while cigar shops may have walk-in humidors, sometimes consisting of a...
  
  

Decorative boxes

Jewelry box

A jewelry (AmE

American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

) or jewellery (BrE

British English

British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...

) box, is a receptacle for trinket

Trinket

A trinket is a small showy ornament or something that is a mere trifle. Trinket may also refer to:* Trinket Island, an island of the Nicobar Islands**Trinket , a village on the island...

s, not only jewel

Gemstone

A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...

s. It may take a very modest form, covered in leather

Leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...

 and lined with satin

Satin

Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...

, or it may be larger and more highly decorated.

Gift box

Gift

Gift

A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to...

s are stored in boxes wrapped in decorative wrapping paper

Gift wrapping

Gift wrapping refers to the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. Gifts may also be wrapped in a box...

. Gift boxes are usually for containing birthday or Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 gifts.

Equipment boxes

• Toolbox
  Toolbox
  A toolbox varies with the craft of the owner. The purpose of the toolbox is to organize, carry, and protect the owner's tools used for trade, hobby or DIY.-Types of toolboxes:...
  
   (or tool box), used in various trades
  Tradesman
  This article is about the skilled manual worker meaning of the term; for other uses see Tradesperson .A tradesman is a skilled manual worker in a particular trade or craft. Economically and socially, a tradesman's status is considered between a laborer and a professional, with a high degree of both...
  
  .
• Fuse box, holds electrical circuit breaker
  Circuit breaker
  A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow...
  
   switches.
• Set-top box
  Set-top box
  A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...
  
  , a device used to decode and display TV signals.
• Black box (transportation)
  Black Box (transportation)
  The term black box is a placeholder name used casually to refer to a collection of several different recording devices used in transportation: the flight recorders in aircraft, the event recorder in railway locomotives, the event data recorder in automobiles, message case in ships, and other...
  
  , a durable data-recording device found in some vehicles, used to assist in the investigation of an accident.

Shelters or booths

Some people use boxes for shelter, for example to keep warm or dry. Homeless people sometimes use flattened boxes as a substitute for blankets. Other types of box use include:

• Police box
  Police box
  A police box is a British telephone kiosk or callbox located in a public place for the use of members of the police, or for members of the public to contact the police...
  
  , a booth for use by police in 20th century Britain.
• Signal box
  Signal box
  On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
  
  , a building by a railway to coordinate and control railway signals.
• Penalty box
  Penalty box
  The penalty box is the area in ice hockey, rugby league, rugby union and some other sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty, for an offense not severe enough to merit outright expulsion from the contest...
  
  , a booth used in sports where a player sits to serve the time of a given penalty.
• Telephone box, or telephone booth, containing a public telephone.

Postal service

• Post box
  Post box
  A post box is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service...
  
   (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. Varieties of post boxes for outgoing mail include:
• Lamp box
  Lamp box
  Lamp boxes are the smallest of the post boxes used by the Royal Mail in the UK, by its counterparts in the Commonwealth of Nations and also by An Post in Ireland...
  
  
• Ludlow wall box
  Ludlow wall box
  In the UK, a Ludlow wall box is a post box where mail is deposited to be collected by the Royal Mail and forwarded to the addressee. They are built into stone pillars or the walls of buildings and are never found free-standing. This is because they are made largely from wood. They were nearly all...
  
  
• Pillar box
  Pillar box
  A pillar box is a free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and in most former nations of the British Empire, members of the Commonwealth of Nations and British overseas territories, such as the Republic of Ireland, Australia, India and Gibraltar...
  
  
• Wall box
  Wall box
  Wall boxes are a type of post box or letter box found in many countries including France, the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Crown dependencies and Ireland. They differ from pillar boxes in that, instead of being a free-standing structure, they are generally set into a wall or...
  
  
• Post office box
  Post Office box
  A post-office box or Post Office box is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office station....
  
  , (often abbreviated P.O. box or PO box), a uniquely-addressable lockable box located in a post office station.
• Post box, can refer to a letter box
  Letter box
  A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot, or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business...
  
   for incoming mail

Other boxes

• Ballot box
  Ballot box
  A ballot box is a temporarily sealed container, usually square box though sometimes a tamper resistant bag, with a narrow slot in the top sufficient to accept a ballot paper in an election but which prevents anyone from accessing the votes cast until the close of the voting period...
  
  , a box in which votes (ballot papers) are deposited during voting.
• Black box
  Black box
  A black box is a device, object, or system whose inner workings are unknown; only the input, transfer, and output are known characteristics.The term black box can also refer to:-In science and technology:*Black box theory, a philosophical theory...
  
  , something for which the internal operation is not described but its function is.
• Box, informal reference to large box-shaped parts of a computer, such as the base unit or tower case of a personal computer
  Personal computer
  A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
  
  .
• Coach Box or the driver's seat on a carriage
  Carriage
  A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
  
   coach
  Coach (carriage)
  A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman and/or one or more postilions. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in...
  
  .
• Dispatch box, (or despatch box), a box for holding official papers and transporting them.
• Glory box
  Hope chest
  A hope chest, dowry chest, cedar chest, or glory box is a chest used to collect items such as clothing and household linen, by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life....
  
   or Hope Chest, a box or chest containing items typically stored by unmarried young women in anticipation of married life.
• Jack-in-the-box
  Jack-in-the-box
  A jack-in-the-box is a children's toy that outwardly consists of a box with a crank. When the crank is turned, it plays a melody, often "Pop Goes the Weasel". At the end of the tune there is a "surprise", the lid pops open and a figure, usually a clown or jester, pops out of the box...
  
  , a children's toy containing a surprise.
• Lunch box
  Lunch box
  The lunch box, also referred to as a lunch pail or lunch kit, is used to store food to be taken to work or school. The concept of a food container has existed for a long time, but it wasn't until people began using tobacco tins to haul meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of...
  
  , or "lunch pail" or "lunch kit", a rigid container used for carrying food. Can also be decorative.
• Mitre box
  Mitre box
  A mitre box is a woodworking tool used to guide a hand saw to make precise mitre cuts in a board.The most common form of a mitre box is a 3-sided box which is open at the top and the ends. The box is made wide enough to accommodate the width of the boards to be cut. Slots are cut in the walls of...
  
  , a woodworking tool used to guide a hand saw to make precise mitre cuts in a board.
• Nest box
  Nest box
  A nest box, also spelled nestbox is a man-made box provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for wild and domesticated birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses, but some mammalian species may also use them. Birdhouses are the most common types of nest...
  
  , a substitute for a hole in a tree for birds to make a nest in.
• Pandora's box
  Pandora's box
  Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology, taken from the myth of Pandora's creation around line 60 of Hesiod's Works and Days. The "box" was actually a large jar given to Pandora , which contained all the evils of the world. When Pandora opened the jar, all its contents except for one item...
  
  , in Greek mythology, a box containing the evils of mankind and also hope.
• Check box
  Check box
  In computing, a checkbox is a graphical user interface element that permits the user to make multiple selections from a number of options or to have the user answer yes or no on a simple yes/no question.Normally, checkboxes are shown on...
  
  , on paper, normally to check off as opinion or option.