See also: sweat box

English edit

Etymology edit

sweat +‎ box

Pronunciation edit

  • (file)

Noun edit

sweatbox (plural sweatboxes)

  1. Any box or boxlike structure used to induce sweating, such as of hides or tobacco
    • 2009 January 31, Karen Collier, “Posties buckle in scorching heat”, in Herald Sun:
      Australia Post has been accused of endangering staff with "sweatbox" uniforms and restricting earlier starts to save money.
  2. (US, slang) A jail cell.
  3. (UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported.
    • 2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil:
      They shoved me in the back of a police van and started driving to the cop shop. I was sitting in the sweatbox, wondering how the Dibble had got onto me so quickly, when I heard a voice from another section of the van say, 'Are you P from Macclesfield?'
    • 2018, Kerry Barnes, Deceit:
      [] she was finally hustled into a sweatbox, as prisoners and prison staff called it, and was off to meet her new home for the foreseeable future.
  4. A small overheated cell or room used for solitary confinement or torture.
    • 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 143:
      In the summer of 1945, one young boy died of heart failure while locked in a sweatbox, a popular corrective at that time.
  5. (slang) A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty.
  6. (animation) The room where a scene is reviewed.
  7. (animation) The review process that takes place in a sweat box.