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beatbox

1 5.7

A person who makes drum and rhythm sounds using only the mouth and voice

noun
/ˈbiːtbɑːks/

: beatboxer

(imitating beatbox)
a human beatbox

Examples

(mimics beatbox)

Chalet Girl (2011)
So that's pretty loud right there, but the beatbox can go a lot louder than that.
Oh yeah, yeah, the human beatbox was pretty good.
But like the human beatbox is that did you like just create that one day?
I am a human beatbox

Dance Flick (2009)
Fresh is already a person and is known as the Human Beatbox (a nickname he earned, by the way).

Blog text (2)
You know, it's kinda like Doug E. Fresh's beatbox.

A Haunted House 2 (2014)
(makes beatbox noises)

Raising Helen (2004)
The originator of the human beatbox (vocally simulating the sound of drums and other musical instruments), he spawned an international hip-hop trend.

Blog text (16)
The human beatbox amazed everyone with his ability to mimic various drum sounds.

Surface Forms

beatbox singular

beatboxes plural

Morphology

beatbox = beat + box (semi-transparent) = beat + box

The compound is clearly built from 'beat' + 'box', but 'box' is used metaphorically (an instrument or device) so the exact meaning (person/device/art) may not be fully predictable for all learners.

Etymology

Beatbox comes from the two simple words beat ('rhythm') and box ('machine' or 'speaker'). In early hip-hop, people copied drum machines with their mouths, so a beatbox is a person who makes machine-like drum sounds with their voice.