Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A (small house or tower in which railway-signals are worked.
- noun The alarm-box of a police or fire-alarm system, or the like, usually affording a connection with a pneumatic or electric system.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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All manner of cross-lines of rails came zig-zagging into it, like a Congress of iron vipers; and, a little way out of it, a pointsman in an elevated signal-box was constantly going through the motions of drawing immense quantities of beer at a public-house bar.
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The pointsman aloft in the signal-box made the motions of drawing, with some difficulty, hogsheads of beer.
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I saw through the steamy window huge electric fights glaring down from tall masts upon a fog, saw rows of stationary empty carriages passing by, and then a signal-box hoisting its constellation of green and red into the murky London twilight, marched after them.
The Door in the Wall, and other stories Herbert George 2006
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A little railway station, a string of loaded trucks, a signal-box, and the back of a cottage, shot by the carriage window, and a bridge passed with a clap of noise, echoing the tumult of the train.
The Door in the Wall, and other stories Herbert George 2006
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I saw through the steamy window huge electric lights glaring down from tall masts upon a fog, saw rows of stationary empty carriages passing by, and then a signal-box, hoisting its constellation of green and red into the murky London twilight marched after them.
Twelve Stories and a Dream, by H. G. Wells Herbert George 2006
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Then, struck with a sudden idea, I left her and turned to a machine from which projected a lever not unlike those in a signal-box.
The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells Herbert George 2006
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A little railway station, a string of loaded trucks, a signal-box, and the back of a cottage, shot by the carriage window, and a bridge passed with a clap of noise, echoing the tumult of the train.
Twelve Stories and a Dream, by H. G. Wells Herbert George 2006
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I only slackened my pace when I reached the green light, where I saw a dark signal-box, and near it on the embankment the figure of a man, probably the signalman.
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Mr. Shovelin went to a corner of the room, which might be called his signal-box, having a little row of port-holes like a toy frigate or accordion, and there he made sounds which brought steps very promptly, one clerk carrying a mighty ledger, and the other a small strong-box.
Erema Richard Doddridge 2004
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The chamber was rather curiously like a signal-box on some suburban railway line.
The Vesuvius Club Mark Gatiss 2004
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