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Glite Dictionary
cat box

cat box

2 1.0
A box filled with litter that a cat uses as a toilet indoors
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : caja de arena
  • Make sure to fill the cat box with fresh litter before the kitten arrives.
  • empty the cat box
  • clean the cat box

Examples

  • Dishes to be washed, bathrooms to be cleaned, the cat box to be emptied; cars needed tune-ups, laundry needed to be done, and bills had to be paid.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • She stuck the freshly scrubbed cat box in with Dickens and Shakespeare, wedging it with a paperback copy of Know Your Body.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You got the cat box!

    The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

  • What is that, a cat box?

    The Manhattan Project (1986)

  • Did you wipe your eye after you cleaned out the cat box?

    Spy (2015)

  • Thank you for offering to fix my lunch, but what I really need is for you to scoop my cat boxes.

    Blog text (31)

  • Mrs. Meadows brought the cat box and set it on the low table next to Amanda's sketchbook.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • He emptied the cat box, cleaned the apartment, and listened to his answering machine.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • I've been known to clean out the cat box to avoid the phone just a few minutes longer. But putting off an important call until the very last minute—or worse, until you're past your deadline—can make you even more anxious.

    Academic text (2009)

  • She cleans the cat box every day to keep the house smelling fresh.

Synonyms

litter box
vscat box
  • US
18 1.8

A box with soft material that cats use to pee and poo indoors

is intended for one common small household pet rather than for various pets

Surface Forms

cat box singular
cat boxes plural

Morphology

cat + box

The compound is fully compositional: 'cat' modifies 'box' to mean a box for a cat. A B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer it is the container cats use (typically for toileting), because noun+noun compounds denoting purpose or possession are common cross-linguistically.

Etymology

Cat box comes from the simple image of a cat using a box as its indoor 'toilet'. Owners fill the box with sand or 'litter', so cat box today means the container a cat uses to go to the toilet inside.