dispatch box
1
8.8
- noun
- Formal
:
caja de despacho
- Somewhere in the vaults of a bank in London... is a tin dispatch box with my name on it.
Examples
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Who stole his dispatch box?
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They've stolen Harry's dispatch box.
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One more dispatch box for tonight, Sir.
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I shall not go on board until my dispatch box has been found.
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My dispatch box, where is it?
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The fuss he was making about his dispatch box?
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I happen to own a dispatch box which is very similar to Mr. Chelm's.
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Last week, the Prime Minister stood in this chamber at the despatch box and said that he would, and I quote, protect private renters from eviction.
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The official sealed the papers inside the dispatch box before sending them to the meeting.
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In the corner of the office, there is a locked dispatch box for storing important government documents.
Synonyms
A small lockable case for carrying important papers like letters or legal documents
How Secure
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun combines 'dispatch' (an official message) with 'box' (a container), so its basic meaning — a container for dispatches or official documents — is directly derivable from the constituents. While there is a specialized governmental/parliamentary sense (a particular oblong locked case), the composition follows a common container-for-X pattern that a B1 learner who knows the words would readily understand.
Etymology
Dispatch box may come from a simple old practice: a small locked box used to carry dispatches, the important 'messages' and 'papers' sent between government offices. Because ministers kept and showed their notes from that box, the dispatch box became both a secure container and a sign of official power.