cereal box
11
1.0
- noun
- /ˈsɪr.i.əl bɑks/
:
caja de cereales
- I opened a colorful cereal box to pour my favorite breakfast into a bowl.
They went and packaged up cereal boxes called Obama reels and McCain snacks.
- They went and packaged up cereal boxes called Obama reels and McCain snacks.
- When they launched, they actually sold cereal boxes at conventions.
- Do you think she has to worry about what's on the back of a cereal box?
- But we didn't have a Ouija board, so we drew one on the back of the cereal box.
- So all you do is you take your cereal box, fold down three of the flaps, so the two on the side and one other as well.
Examples
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Daniel sat at the kitchen table, comparing the number of fiber grams on cereal boxes.
Fiction book (2002) -
Remember when I sent off those cereal box tops to get this thing?
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I got it out of a cereal box.
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Your face on another cereal box, perhaps?
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Have you ever seen a cereal box that big?
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Look, this is for a cereal box.
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This picture on the cereal box is supposed to make you feel happy.
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A shelf above the sink was lined with cereal boxes, their tops open, like baby birds' mouths, to the ceiling.
Fiction book (1999) -
There were cereal boxes everywhere in great stacks, and cardboard drums of corn, wheat, and oat flakes.
Fiction book (1994) -
The prize inside the cereal box made my morning meal even more exciting.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
A usually rectangular container with a lid for holding things or the amount it holds
58
1.0
A box made of cardboard with a top that opens for storing things
37
1.0
A box made of cardboard used for packing or storing things
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a cardboard box used to package and sell breakfast cereals' is directly compositional from 'cereal' (breakfast grain food) + 'box' (container). This noun–noun compound follows a common and cross-linguistically regular packaging naming pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Cereal box comes from the simple image of a box that holds cereal. When breakfast cereals began to be sold, they were put in printed cardboard boxes with big pictures and sometimes a small prize, so people started calling that box a 'cereal box', and today it means the cardboard box used to sell breakfast cereal.