mite box
- noun
:
caja de limosna
- Each Sunday, children would drop coins into the mite box at the front of the church.
Examples
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The church placed a mite box at the entrance.
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The old mite box was painted blue and decorated with a golden cross.
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She donated her allowance to the mite box as a gesture of charity.
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Don't forget to donate to the mite box!
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Each Sunday, children would drop coins into the mite box at the front of the church.
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She donated her allowance to the mite box as a gesture of charity.
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The church placed a mite box at the entrance for the community to give donations.
Synonyms
2
5.5
A place in a church where people put money to help needy people
1
2.0
A small container with a slot on top for keeping coins or paper money
A box in a church where people put money for the poor
A box for collecting donations in a church or public place
How Ornate
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a box for collecting small donations' is directly and compositionally derived from 'mite' (a minute quantity/small donation) plus 'box' (a container). This noun-noun compounding follows a transparent pattern common across languages (e.g., donation/alms box), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning, despite 'mite' being somewhat archaic.
Etymology
Mite box is a small box often kept in a church for tiny gifts. One popular story says the word mite once meant a very small coin, so people dropped little coins into the mite box to help the poor, and that's why it means 'a box for small donations'.