butterboxn.

1595 A. Copley Wits Fittes & Fancies iv. 129 Finding a Dutch-man there working at the Presse, straight stept vnto him, and snatching the balles out of his hands, gaue him a good cuffe on the eare, & sayd: Why how now (Butter-boxe?)

1600 T. Dekker Shomakers Holiday sig. C3 We haue not men enow, but we must entertaine euerie butter-boxe.

1630 P. Massinger Renegado ii. v. sig. E1^v Some low cuntrey butterbox.

1672 H. Stubbe Justif. War against Netherlands 79 The World is coming to a fine pass when these Butter-boxes presume to teach all Europe Civility.

1716 Shift Shifted 11 Aug. 87/2 Hogen Mogen is snug in his Butter-box, growling and plodding how he may..transform the Beefeaters to Butter-boxes.

1775 T. Bridges Dutchman i. iv. 13 He confine me, a son of a Dutch—Butter-box!

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 148 Butter-box..A cant term for a Dutchman.

1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 21 Butter Box..Dutch ship or seaman.

1978 P. O'Brian Desolation Island vi. 145 You may call them Butterboxes..but they thumped us most cruelly not so very long ago.

1614 W. Browne Shepheards Pipe vi. sig. E6^v See how cleane he lickes Your Butter-boxe.

a1665 K. Digby Closet Opened (1669) 211 Then put this mixtion into a deep Woodden dish (like a great Butter-box) which must first be on the inside a little greased with Butter.

1713 T. Rands Pax in Crumena 17 The Author,..hanging his Haversack upon his Pistol, the Cornet's Horse attack'd it, eat his Bread, and broke his Butter-Box.

1749 T. Nugent Grand Tour I. 37 The common people seldom go upon a journey without a butter-box in their pockets.

1807 Newcastle Courant 31 Oct. (advt.) Cream Bowls; Butter Boxes; Sugar Basons.

1831 E. L. Hazelius tr. J. H. Jung-Stilling Life ii. 14 In the early part of his youth he had transformed..a wooden butter box into a compass, for the purpose of making geometrical observations.

1874 Contemp. Rev. 24 698 The wits declared that Denmark had sent a hundred thousand herrings, Holland a hundred thousand butter-boxes.

1917 Internat. Rev. Agric. Econ. Nov. 26 Something like 2,000,000 feet of timber are felled and then milled and converted into butter boxes and cheese crates each year.

1956 N. K. Wallis Austral. Timber Handbk. 3 Hoop pine is used for joinery, cabinet work, butter boxes, and for plywood, much of the latter being exported to other States.

2008 J. Quinn Goodnight Ballivor x. 54 A strong butter-box could serve a multitude of uses in the home.

1806 M. Lewis Jrnl. 9 Mar. in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1990) VI. 397 I take this to be the Same Species of duck common to the ohio, as also the atlantic Coast, and Sometimes called the butter box.

a1813 A. Wilson Amer. Ornithol. (1814) VIII. 51 Buffel-headed Duck…usually known by the name of the Butter-box, or Butter-ball.

1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting xxix. 281 Local names [of the buffle-headed duck]: butter-box, butter-ball, and little whistler.

1932 D. Stoner Ornithol. Oneida Lake Region (Roosevelt Wild Life Annals) Jan. 409 Buffle-head. Charitonetta albeola... Owing to the thick layer of fat which covers the body the species has acquired the names of butterball and butterbox among gunners.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast ix. 76 She was the Loriotte,..and was engaged in this trade. She was a lump of a thing—what the sailors call a butter-box.

1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xvi. 76 You may have seen many a quaint craft in your day,..butter-box galliots, and what not.

1864 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 619/1 Dern'd 'f I 'd 'a' come, 'f I 'd 'a' known th' old butter-box was goin' to be s' frisky.

1909 N.Y. Evening Post 28 Jan. What New York youngster ever heard of a butterbox? This is the name applied [in the country] to the spring wagons of farmer and grocer, divested of wheels and set up on runners for the winter season.

1987 W. Hagelund Whalers no More ii. 26 Roy and I..were given a wooden butter box and directed to take it out in the harbour a quarter of a cable or so.

2003 Sunday Mail (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 1 June 95 ‘Another little butterbox?’ Now, I'm sure my wife didn't mean to be offensive to the little Honda Jazz that had just arrived in our driveway.