box office en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- bäksʹä'fĭs (US)
- /ˈbɒksˌɒfɪs/ (UK)
- /ˈbɑksˌɑfɪs/ (US)
- /ˈbɑksˌɔfɪs/ (US)
- bäksʹô'fĭs (US)
- (US) audio
Etymology
1786, presumably from sales of boxes, box seats (“separated private seating”). Sense of “total sales” from 1904. Folk etymology is that this derives from Elizabethan theatre, where theater admission was collected in a box attached to a long stick, passed around the audience. However, the term is first attested over a century later (theaters were closed in 1642), making this highly unlikely.
Meanings
-
(countable) A place where tickets are sold in a theatre/theater or cinema.
The movie tanked at the box office.
-
(broadly, uncountable) The total amount of money paid by people worldwide to watch a movie at cinemas/movie theaters.
If any further insurance was required, the popularity of the three "Topper" films in the 1930s — based on Thorne Smith's characters — would seem to indicate that amusing ghosts made good box office.
2005, Barry Day, Coward on Film: The Cinema of Noël Coward, page 88:box office receipts
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(uncountable) Quality of an entertainment or spectacle that makes it very popular with the public, or likely to be so.
A show that makes great box office.
His performance last night was pure box office.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| boxoffice | alternative | lexicographic | |
| box-office | alternative | lexicographic | |
| box offices | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
box-office bomb · poison at the box office
Relateds
booking office ticket window · ticket office · will call · cume
Translations (37)
fi lippumyymälä (ticket office) · fr billetterie (ticket office) · el ταμείο (ticket office) · fr guichet (ticket office) · tl takilya (ticket office) · fi lippukassa (ticket office) · gl bileteira (ticket office) · de Kasse (ticket office) · ru бу́дка (ticket office) · ro casă de bilete (ticket office) · tr gişe (ticket office) · it botteghino (ticket office) · vi phòng vé (ticket office) · es taquillas (total amount of money) · it biglietteria (ticket office) · nb billettkontor (ticket office) · hu jegypénztár (ticket office) · cmn 票房 (ticket office) · mk ка́са (ticket office) · ru биле́тная ка́сса (ticket office) · pl box office (ticket office) · cmn 售票處 /售票处 (ticket office) · ca taquilla (ticket office) · mk билета́рница (ticket office) · nn billettkontor (ticket office) · de Schalter (ticket office) · pt bilheteria (ticket office) · es taquilla (total amount of money) · is miðasala (ticket office) · ja 切符売場 (ticket office) · es taquilla (ticket office) · ja 出札所 (ticket office) · ru ка́сса (ticket office) · es boletería (ticket office) · sv biljettkassa (ticket office) · es taquillaje (total amount of money) · hy տոմսարկղ (ticket office)