zombie box
- noun
:
caja zombie
- After the power surge, their cable box turned into a zombie box overnight.
Examples
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This old zombie box doesn't even turn on anymore.
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We kept the broken radio as a zombie box until we finally threw it away.
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The old computer was just a zombie box gathering dust under his desk.
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I found a zombie box in the garage yesterday.
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After the power surge, their cable box turned into a zombie box overnight.
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The old computer was just a zombie box gathering dust under his desk.
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We kept the broken radio as a zombie box until we finally threw it away.
How Functional
Surface Forms
Morphology
zombie + box
This is a straightforward noun–noun composition: 'zombie' (an infected/controlled machine) modifies 'box', so the compound denotes a box/device that has been zombified (compromised). If a learner knows the technical sense of 'zombie', the meaning follows directly from the constituents and the standard modifier+noun pattern, making it transparent.
Etymology
Zombie box compares a broken electronic box to a zombie, an image of something that looks dead but still sits there. So it is used for a device that no longer works.