sweatboxes

Noun

sweatbox (plural sweatboxes)

1. Any box or boxlike structure used to induce sweating, such as of hides or tobacco
   • Australia Post has been accused of endangering staff with "sweatbox" uniforms and restricting earlier starts to save money.2009 January 31, Karen Collier, “Posties buckle in scorching heat”, in Herald Sun
2. (US, slang) A jail cell.
3. (UK, slang) A compartment in a police van to hold a prisoner being transported.
   • 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?'2013, Colin Blaney, Hotshot: The Story of a Little Red Devil
4. A small overheated cell or room used for solitary confinement or torture.
   • In the summer of 1945, one young boy died of heart failure while locked in a sweatbox, a popular corrective at that time.2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 143
5. (slang) A small nightclub packed to capacity where people get hot and sweaty.
6. (animation) The room where a scene is reviewed.

See all 9 meanings of sweatbox