"box someone's ears" meaning in English

See box someone's ears in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-box someone's ears.ogg Forms: boxes someone's ears [present, singular, third-person], boxing someone's ears [participle, present], boxed someone's ears [participle, past], boxed someone's ears [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} box someone's ears (third-person singular simple present boxes someone's ears, present participle boxing someone's ears, simple past and past participle boxed someone's ears)
  1. (idiomatic) To slap someone on the side of the head, usually as an informal punishment. Tags: idiomatic Translations (slap on the side of the head): 打耳光 (dǎ ěrguāng) (Chinese Mandarin), vedellä pitkin korvia (Finnish), antaa korvapuusti (Finnish), dar um pé de ouvido [masculine] (Portuguese), надрать уши (nadratʹ uši) (Russian), давать оплеуху / затрещину / подзатыльник (davatʹ opleuxu / zatreščinu / podzatylʹnik) (Russian), ge någon en örfil (Swedish), ge någon en hurring (Swedish), bonclustio (Welsh)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "boxes someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxing someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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      "name": "en-verb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Welsh translations",
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1908 Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand. 1908, report of commission Te Oranga Home p.53",
          "text": "\"Was it the Matron's practice to box the girls' ears whilst you were at the Home?\"\n\"I have seen her do so. She came into the workroom one day when, I think, A— was there. I know it was one of the bigger girls. I took particular notice, because I had never seen anyone using both hands before.\"\n\"You mean in boxing both ears?\"\n\"Yes, first one hand and then the other\"\n\"Was that the Matron?\"\n\"Yes. I did not know anything had happened until presently I heard a noise, and then I walked out of the room.\" . . .\n\"Was it a matter of notoriety amongst the staff that the Matron was in the habit of boxing the girls' ears?\"\n\"I think the staff all know it.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To slap someone on the side of the head, usually as an informal punishment."
      ],
      "id": "en-box_someone's_ears-en-verb-d6dwdhL8",
      "links": [
        [
          "slap",
          "slap"
        ],
        [
          "side",
          "side"
        ],
        [
          "head",
          "head"
        ],
        [
          "informal",
          "informal"
        ],
        [
          "punishment",
          "punishment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To slap someone on the side of the head, usually as an informal punishment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "dǎ ěrguāng",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "打耳光"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "vedellä pitkin korvia"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "antaa korvapuusti"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "dar um pé de ouvido"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "nadratʹ uši",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "надрать уши"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "davatʹ opleuxu / zatreščinu / podzatylʹnik",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "давать оплеуху / затрещину / подзатыльник"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "ge någon en örfil"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "ge någon en hurring"
        },
        {
          "code": "cy",
          "lang": "Welsh",
          "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
          "word": "bonclustio"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "audio": "en-au-box someone's ears.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/28/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "box someone's ears"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "boxes someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxing someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "boxed someone's ears",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      },
      "expansion": "box someone's ears (third-person singular simple present boxes someone's ears, present participle boxing someone's ears, simple past and past participle boxed someone's ears)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
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        "English verbs",
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        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "Terms with Welsh translations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1908 Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand. 1908, report of commission Te Oranga Home p.53",
          "text": "\"Was it the Matron's practice to box the girls' ears whilst you were at the Home?\"\n\"I have seen her do so. She came into the workroom one day when, I think, A— was there. I know it was one of the bigger girls. I took particular notice, because I had never seen anyone using both hands before.\"\n\"You mean in boxing both ears?\"\n\"Yes, first one hand and then the other\"\n\"Was that the Matron?\"\n\"Yes. I did not know anything had happened until presently I heard a noise, and then I walked out of the room.\" . . .\n\"Was it a matter of notoriety amongst the staff that the Matron was in the habit of boxing the girls' ears?\"\n\"I think the staff all know it.\""
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To slap someone on the side of the head, usually as an informal punishment."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "slap",
          "slap"
        ],
        [
          "side",
          "side"
        ],
        [
          "head",
          "head"
        ],
        [
          "informal",
          "informal"
        ],
        [
          "punishment",
          "punishment"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To slap someone on the side of the head, usually as an informal punishment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-box someone's ears.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/28/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/En-au-box_someone%27s_ears.ogg"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "dǎ ěrguāng",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "打耳光"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "vedellä pitkin korvia"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "antaa korvapuusti"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "dar um pé de ouvido"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nadratʹ uši",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "надрать уши"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "davatʹ opleuxu / zatreščinu / podzatylʹnik",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "давать оплеуху / затрещину / подзатыльник"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "ge någon en örfil"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "ge någon en hurring"
    },
    {
      "code": "cy",
      "lang": "Welsh",
      "sense": "slap on the side of the head",
      "word": "bonclustio"
    }
  ],
  "word": "box someone's ears"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (4eaa824 and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.