Definition of matchbox in English:

noun

• 1A small box in which matches are sold, with a striking surface on one side.

  Example sentences

  • ‘Shot glasses and matchboxes (usually with bar names and addresses which are useful for retracing the previous night's steps) are a favourite.’
  • ‘Why is it that these places seem more concerned about how they display their designer matchboxes than the gumption level of their staff?’
  • ‘I had not gone off my habit of collecting matchbooks and matchboxes from places I visited, but sadly, they were not available here.’
  • ‘Aluminium tins, matchboxes and canteen tables were replaced with sophisticated musical instruments.’
  • ‘Just one peek at cars the size of matchboxes was enough.’
  • ‘It turns out that the young woman with the expressionless face of a professional on the catwalk loves cartoons and collecting matchboxes.’
  • ‘Meanwhile, the devotees, who assembled well in advance at the appointed places, lit smaller oil lamps using candles and matchboxes.’
  • ‘He scrambled through 14 tonnes of waste to find the tiny jewellery case - no bigger than a large matchbox.’
  • ‘The collection includes a horse so small it was originally sold in a matchbox and an 8ft rocking horse large enough to seat three children at once.’
  • ‘The most obvious was the imbalance in the midfield, with two strong-running centres whose joint creative talent could be kept in a matchbox, along with the matches.’
  • ‘A small port had been built and colossal barges looking like giant overflowing matchboxes were being towed the short distance down the coast to Korea.’
  • ‘Back in England, Sam learnt that the original matchbox had been retrieved, 20 years after its loss, by a farmhand who had found it while ploughing a field that very morning.’
  • ‘From afar the shanty towns resembled ramshackle collections of matchboxes.’
  • ‘Adequate stocks of essential commodities such as rice, maida, wheat, kerosene and matchboxes were kept ready for distribution to people in case of any emergency.’
  • ‘Naturally I thought that he'd have a little box like a snuff box or a matchbox and he'd blow them away as we'd usually seen it done.’
  • ‘Two computers, about the size of a matchbox, are attached to the side of their parachute to calculate the speed of the descent.’
  • ‘The exhibition is a showcase of miniature artwork, with everything from converted matchboxes to sculptures made from bird bones.’
  • ‘Anyway, I was mooching along Tottenham Court Road at lunchtime, and this store was selling little weeny teeny digital cameras, about the size of a matchbox.’
  • ‘We therefore amassed about 20 matchboxes and stuffed them with caterpillars, hiding them in nooks and crannies of our homes.’
  • ‘They often produce matchboxes or pill bottles with fluff, splinters and other debris that they insist are specimens that they have caught.’

  1. 1.1as modifier Very small.
     ‘her matchbox apartment’

     More example sentences

     • ‘There's a large number of German iron toy cars from the 1970s and a full set of English matchbox cars, which are now worth thousands of NT dollars each.’
     • ‘And I like to watch the tiny matchbox cars moving down the road and wonder whether the drivers know they're being watched from above.’
     • ‘It's just like when you were a kid and you made your own tracks for your matchbox cars around the house.’
     • ‘I have some matchbox cars left over.’
     • ‘Sooner or later, you'll see the cable car, which looks like a matchbox toy from the valley floor, inching up the grade.’
     • ‘They were sprawls of monotonous matchbox houses devoid of color.’
     • ‘That was a real, heavy metal train carriage, not a matchbox toy.’
     • ‘Mine always bought me dolls, even though he knew what I really wanted was those little matchbox cars.’
     • ‘I'd never visited this side of the ridgeline until just a couple days ago when I saw the village transform from matchbox town to real as I descended on this road.’
     • ‘From the air Darwin looks like a matchbox town that has been crushed by a giant foot.’
     • ‘Unfortunately, most of the houses built in 1980s and early 1990s are the same, which were called matchbox houses.’
     • ‘It sways in the breeze, and while good-looking, proves to be more of matchbox quality than I had thought.’
     • ‘Oddly, one architect likes to keep his matchbox car collection in his cabinet alongside his vintage shaving gear.’
     • ‘However while the others played together Johnny played by himself with toy airplanes and matchbox cars.’