shadowbox

A diorama or shallow display case, usually with a glass front.

Noun

  1. A diorama or shallow display case, usually with a glass front.
    • Simply constructed of wood, a shadowbox sign frame 6 inches deep, 11 inches wide and 70 inches long is suspended over the stairway of the Scott Sotre, 124 Fifth Avenue, Jamestown, N.D. - 1936 May, “Shadowbox Tops...
    • To build a shadowbox into the normal sort of hollow-core wall, we first have to make darned sure where we want the thing, for once you start making a shadowbox, there's no going back unless you panel over the whole area...
    • If you are going to make shadowboxes your hobby, your first consideration must be the room in which you want to place the shadowbox, not the room you want to build inside the shadowbox. - 1980, Robert H. Schleicher,...
  2. A rectangular display area that is set off with a frame or drop shadow.
    • This book will show you how to make fabulous origami shadowbox frames to display your art in a beautiful and original way! - 2013, Yuri Shumakov, Katrin Shumakov, Origami Shadowbox Frames: Original Approach to Display...
    • Display the movie with a shadowbox effect by clicking the Aspect Ratio button.of mine Luisa Ramirez. - 2015, Nancy C. Muir, Computers For Seniors For Dummies, page 294:
    • This will eventually be framed in a shadowbox, I imagine. - 2017, Xiomara Roma, The Trudy Silverheels Scrapbook, page 88:
  3. A box with a light inside used for reading X-ray images.
    • Q. All right. Would they be of any significance in showing the jury through a shadowbox? A. I think they helped confirm the diagnosis. - 1962, Records and Briefs New York State Appellate Division, page 475:
    • Q. Doctor, insofar as the condition of her back is concerned, would you be good enough to put the shadowbox up again, please? - 1971, Personal Injury Annual, page 436:
    • To what extent is the x-ray shadowbox used in the medical profession? - 2003, Irving Goldstein, Fred Lane, Goldstein Trial Technique - Volume 2, page 12-46:
  4. A shade that surrounds a lit display or screen to make it easier to read in bright environments.
    • In cases where it is difficult or impossible to reduce room illumination to this value, viewing of the projected image may be improved by providing the screen with a light shield, commonly known as a shadowbox . - 1947,...
    • A shadowbox extending 270 ° around the diode showed that the beam was reasonably uniform. - 1982, IEEE Conference Record--abstracts, page 80:

Origin

From shadow + box (“cuboid container”).

Forms

shadowboxes shadow-box shadow box

Verb boxing, government

  1. To practice moves without an actual opponent, often in front of a mirror.
    • He was shadowboxing to keep fit and practice before the big fight.
    • The fighter starts to shadowbox in front of them. - 1975, Stephen Dunning, Literature for Adolescents, page 392:
    • McAfferty giggled, then stepped back and shadowboxed, jabbing the air with his little fists. - 2009, Jim Lynch, Border Songs:
  2. To engage in evasive maneuvers; to avoid addressing something directly.
    • He wrapped himself forever in the garden of his mind showered with golden cataclysms, sun-explosive and shadowboxed all patentcy of death. - 1931, Pagany - Volume 2, Issues 1-3, page 34:
    • But, he knew, like all the other firms they had to shadowbox around the issue until things got awkward and it was apparent they had discussed everything in the world but money. - 1991, John Grisham, The Firm, 1st...
    • The situation now clearly demanded the U.S. Army. Yet throughout the day Republican George Romney and the White House shadowboxed. - 2005, Mitchell B. Lerner, Looking Back at LBJ: White House Politics in a New Light,...
  3. To argue with an imaginary enemy.
    • Without being shadowboxed into psychedelic fears about losing Japan as a trader or as a friend — let us remind our Government today that Japan wants what we have and we want them to get what we have but not at the...
    • No one here is calling for Joe Peacock to be ostracized. We’re calling him on his bullshit. Brave of you to shadowbox all those non-existent censors though. - 2012 July 28, Gulliver [username], “Who Gets To Be a Geek?...
    • The majority of the pages in the dissent are directed at an opinion no longer in existence. Indeed much of the dissent continues to shadowbox with an opinion we never wrote. - 2021 July 14, Beverly B. Martin, “Drew...

Origin

From shadow + box (“to fight in a boxing match”).

Forms

shadowboxes shadowboxing shadowboxed shadow-box shadow box

Related

tilt at windmills

Verb Entry 3

  1. To display in a shadowbox.
    • This is also the time to decide which photos will be shadowboxed, which ones will be popped up, and which will lie flat on the paper. - 2004, Leisure Arts, Inc, Award-Winning Scrapbook Pages, page 42:
    • The trailer walls were covered with collectable plates, framed fan art, and shadowboxed phasers and tricorders. - 2008, Holly Black, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, page 45:
    • Awesome is shadowboxed images that float above the site and make your image pop off the screen. - 2009, Tris Hussey, Create Your Own Blog:

Forms

shadowboxes shadowboxing shadowboxed shadow-box shadow box