"sweatbox" meaning in English

See sweatbox in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-sweatbox.ogg Forms: sweatboxes [plural]
Etymology: From sweat + box. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|sweat|box}} sweat + box Head templates: {{en-noun}} sweatbox (plural sweatboxes)
  1. Any box or boxlike structure used to induce sweating, such as of hides or tobacco
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-jGUN7Z3V
  2. (US, slang) A jail cell. Tags: US, slang
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-IPcCCIwS Categories (other): American English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Prison, Rooms Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 7 31 16 1 2 7 18 15 3 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 7 32 16 1 1 8 18 14 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 7 33 16 1 1 8 18 14 2 Disambiguation of Prison: 0 66 6 0 0 0 0 28 0 Disambiguation of Rooms: 6 33 4 10 4 9 7 18 9
  3. (UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported. Tags: UK, slang
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-SmSrI7s0 Categories (other): British English
  4. A small overheated cell or room used for solitary confinement or torture.
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-BBczXvj6
  5. (slang) A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty. Tags: slang
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-IJ~jdXsW
  6. (animation) The room where a scene is reviewed.
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-4NKKIOoe Categories (other): Animation
  7. (animation) The review process that takes place in a sweat box.
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-noun-iwBWdB7f Categories (other): Animation

Verb

Audio: En-au-sweatbox.ogg Forms: sweatboxes [present, singular, third-person], sweatboxing [participle, present], sweatboxed [participle, past], sweatboxed [past]
Etymology: From sweat + box. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|sweat|box}} sweat + box Head templates: {{en-verb}} sweatbox (third-person singular simple present sweatboxes, present participle sweatboxing, simple past and past participle sweatboxed)
  1. (slang, transitive) To place (a person) in a jail cell or a police van compartment. Tags: slang, transitive
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-verb-Xnj2W6MH
  2. (animation, transitive) To review (work) in the designated room for such reviews. Tags: transitive
    Sense id: en-sweatbox-en-verb-ttiVeQuF Categories (other): Animation

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sweat",
        "3": "box"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat + box",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sweat + box.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sweatboxes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sweatbox (plural sweatboxes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              59,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009 January 31, Karen Collier, “Posties buckle in scorching heat”, in Herald Sun:",
          "text": "Australia Post has been accused of endangering staff with \"sweatbox\" uniforms and restricting earlier starts to save money.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any box or boxlike structure used to induce sweating, such as of hides or tobacco"
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-jGUN7Z3V",
      "links": [
        [
          "box",
          "box"
        ],
        [
          "boxlike",
          "boxlike"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ],
        [
          "hide",
          "hide"
        ],
        [
          "tobacco",
          "tobacco"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 31 16 1 2 7 18 15 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 32 16 1 1 8 18 14 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "7 33 16 1 1 8 18 14 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "0 66 6 0 0 0 0 28 0",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Prison",
          "orig": "en:Prison",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 33 4 10 4 9 7 18 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Rooms",
          "orig": "en:Rooms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A jail cell."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-IPcCCIwS",
      "links": [
        [
          "jail cell",
          "jail cell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) A jail cell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              101,
              109
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil:",
          "text": "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?'",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              35,
              43
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Kerry Barnes, Deceit:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-SmSrI7s0",
      "links": [
        [
          "compartment",
          "compartment"
        ],
        [
          "police",
          "police"
        ],
        [
          "van",
          "van"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              77,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 143:",
          "text": "In the summer of 1945, one young boy died of heart failure while locked in a sweatbox, a popular corrective at that time.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              70,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023, “A Drone Opting Out of the Hive”, performed by Code Orange:",
          "text": "Don't step in the wrong spot\nYou will gеt caught\nWhen you step in the swеatbox\nThey'll make you talk",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small overheated cell or room used for solitary confinement or torture."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-BBczXvj6",
      "links": [
        [
          "overheated",
          "overheated"
        ],
        [
          "solitary confinement",
          "solitary confinement"
        ],
        [
          "torture",
          "torture"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-IJ~jdXsW",
      "links": [
        [
          "nightclub",
          "nightclub"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Animation",
          "orig": "en:Animation",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The room where a scene is reviewed."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-4NKKIOoe",
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation) The room where a scene is reviewed."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Animation",
          "orig": "en:Animation",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The review process that takes place in a sweat box."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-noun-iwBWdB7f",
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation) The review process that takes place in a sweat box."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweatbox.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg/En-au-sweatbox.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sweatbox"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sweat",
        "3": "box"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat + box",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sweat + box.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sweatboxes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sweatbox (third-person singular simple present sweatboxes, present participle sweatboxing, simple past and past participle sweatboxed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "To place (a person) in a jail cell or a police van compartment."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-verb-Xnj2W6MH",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, transitive) To place (a person) in a jail cell or a police van compartment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Animation",
          "orig": "en:Animation",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To review (work) in the designated room for such reviews."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweatbox-en-verb-ttiVeQuF",
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation, transitive) To review (work) in the designated room for such reviews."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweatbox.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg/En-au-sweatbox.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg"
    }
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  "word": "sweatbox"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Prison",
    "en:Rooms"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sweat",
        "3": "box"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat + box",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sweat + box.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sweatboxes",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sweatbox (plural sweatboxes)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              59,
              67
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009 January 31, Karen Collier, “Posties buckle in scorching heat”, in Herald Sun:",
          "text": "Australia Post has been accused of endangering staff with \"sweatbox\" uniforms and restricting earlier starts to save money.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any box or boxlike structure used to induce sweating, such as of hides or tobacco"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "box",
          "box"
        ],
        [
          "boxlike",
          "boxlike"
        ],
        [
          "sweat",
          "sweat"
        ],
        [
          "hide",
          "hide"
        ],
        [
          "tobacco",
          "tobacco"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A jail cell."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "jail cell",
          "jail cell"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang) A jail cell."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              101,
              109
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil:",
          "text": "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?'",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              35,
              43
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2018, Kerry Barnes, Deceit:",
          "text": "[…] 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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "compartment",
          "compartment"
        ],
        [
          "police",
          "police"
        ],
        [
          "van",
          "van"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              77,
              85
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 143:",
          "text": "In the summer of 1945, one young boy died of heart failure while locked in a sweatbox, a popular corrective at that time.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              70,
              78
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023, “A Drone Opting Out of the Hive”, performed by Code Orange:",
          "text": "Don't step in the wrong spot\nYou will gеt caught\nWhen you step in the swеatbox\nThey'll make you talk",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small overheated cell or room used for solitary confinement or torture."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "overheated",
          "overheated"
        ],
        [
          "solitary confinement",
          "solitary confinement"
        ],
        [
          "torture",
          "torture"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "nightclub",
          "nightclub"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang) A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Animation"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The room where a scene is reviewed."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation) The room where a scene is reviewed."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Animation"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The review process that takes place in a sweat box."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation) The review process that takes place in a sweat box."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweatbox.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg/En-au-sweatbox.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg"
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  "word": "sweatbox"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Prison",
    "en:Rooms"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "sweat",
        "3": "box"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat + box",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From sweat + box.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sweatboxes",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxed",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "sweatboxed",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "sweatbox (third-person singular simple present sweatboxes, present participle sweatboxing, simple past and past participle sweatboxed)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English transitive verbs"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To place (a person) in a jail cell or a police van compartment."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, transitive) To place (a person) in a jail cell or a police van compartment."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English transitive verbs",
        "en:Animation"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To review (work) in the designated room for such reviews."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "animation",
          "animation"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "animation",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(animation, transitive) To review (work) in the designated room for such reviews."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweatbox.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg/En-au-sweatbox.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/En-au-sweatbox.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sweatbox"
}

Download raw JSONL data for sweatbox meaning in English (5.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-08-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-08-02 using wiktextract (a681f8a and 3c020d2). 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.