shoebox

American  

[shoo-boks] / ˈʃuˌbɒks /

Or shoe box

noun

1. an oblong cardboard box of a standard size used to package a pair of shoes for sale.

2. any house, building, or other construction likened to a shoebox because of its shape or cramped area.

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Etymology

Origin of shoebox

First recorded in 1855–60; shoe + box ¹

Example Sentences

Imagine the Los Angeles sports landscape in a shoebox, with most of it focused in the downtown area with the Lakers and the Dodgers.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 12, 2026

The shoebox of football cards, the smell of my old hockey equipment, the sound of the desk safe where I kept my silver dollars all transport me back decades.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 8, 2025

Items as large as a shoebox can be posted in the pillar boxes, in what Royal Mail says is the "biggest redesign in its 175-year history".

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2025

He works in an office plaza, lives in a shoebox apartment with vellum-thin walls and socializes at his choice of nearby casual dining establishments with names like Flingers and Chotchkie’s Bar & Grill.

From Salon • Mar. 1, 2024

Like maybe they had even found it in his shoebox upstairs.

From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore