apple box

English

Alternative forms

• apple-box, applebox

Etymology

Presumably originally used to transport apples.

Noun

apple-box (plural apple boxes)

1. (US) A wooden box measuring 12 × 20 × 8 inches.
   • 1913, Fruit Products Congress, The Apple Annual, page 67:

     The standard size of an apple box shall be eighteen inches long, eleven and one-half inches wide, ten and one-half inches deep, inside measurement.

   • 1998, Edward Abbey, The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel:

     Beside the bed is an apple box standing on end, on top of the box a candle planted in the neck of a wax-coated wine bottle.

   • 2010, James D. Heintz, Apple Box Boy: Slices of Life, page 34:

     You would then nail an old wooden apple box, which we always had plenty of, on top of the board leaving a space behind for your foot to ride.

Hypernyms

• box