Bandbox

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A lightweight round cardboard box once used to hold hats, collars or other delicate clothing ; a small, cramped room or house with little space to move
2. A light, round cardboard container designed to carry hats or starched collars ; a tiny, confined dwelling or room that feels cramped
3. A thin cardboard case traditionally made for storing hats or fine linen ; any very small, closely confined room or dwelling

Etymology: A bandbox was a light, round box made of thin wood or pasteboard, covered in paper or cloth and used for carrying hats, collars, and other small garments. The "band" in the name is the strip or cardboard band that held the box's sides together, so the word is simply a plain compound of "band" and "box" with no deeper hidden story. Its sense has since travelled a long way from the object itself. Because these boxes were the kind of luggage a traveller would carry along with a trunk, "bandbox" came to describe anything that looked freshly pressed and neat, and as an adjective it is used of a person or place that is excessively trim, prim, or spruce. The contrast is with the rough world outside the box: someone "fresh out of a bandbox" seems never to have been near dust or weather.

Synonyms: hatbox