Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🚔 A hot cell 🌿 A curing device
sweatbox

sweatbox

1 9.3
A small narrow cell that holds a prisoner in hot, uncomfortable conditions as punishment
  • noun
  • /ˈswɛtˌbɑks/
  • Archaic
translation icon : celda de castigo
  • "Get in that sweatbox"!

Examples

  • A year you took from me in that sweatbox.

    The Lone Ranger (2013)

  • Won't be in this bleeding sweatbox for much longer.

    Scum (1979)

  • This has all been here... ...the whole time we have been shut up in our little sweatbox of the arts.

    The Band Wagon (1953)

  • Did you put her in a sweatbox?

    Requiem for a Dream (2000)

  • The prisoners were kept in a small sweatbox that made the hot summer days unbearable.

  • After hours in the stuffy sweatbox, he felt faint and desperate for fresh air.

  • They were confined to a sweatbox with barely enough room to sit down and hardly any ventilation.

Synonyms

cell
vssweatbox
549 5.6

A small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held

is narrower and hotter making occupants feel cramped and uncomfortable
jail cell
vssweatbox
43 1.5

A small room in a prison where guards keep prisoners

is narrower and hotter making occupants feel cramped and uncomfortable
prison cell
vssweatbox
29 2.7

A small locked room in jail for holding a person

is narrower and hotter making occupants feel cramped and uncomfortable

How Uncomfortable

torture chamber
  • Offensive
8 7.7
sweatbox
  • Archaic
1 9.3
dungeon
80 5.0
cell
549 5.6
holding cell
33 4.1

Surface Forms

sweatbox singular
sweatboxes plural

Morphology

sweatbox = sweat + box (transparent) = sweat + box

Meaning is directly inferable as a confined container that causes sweating or severe discomfort due to heat and restriction.

Etymology

Sweatbox comes from the parts sweat ('to sweat' or 'become hot') and box ('a small room or container'). It refers to a small, tight cell that makes a person very hot and sweaty, which is why it was used to punish or discipline prisoners.