noun
- Plural of hellbox; containers or receptacles used in printing to hold discarded or damaged type and metal pieces.
Usage: printing; historical; chiefly British
Examples
- The printer sorted broken letters into the hellboxes for recycling.
- Old hellboxes from the 19th-century print shop are now museum artifacts.
- Damaged metal type was collected in hellboxes before being melted down.
- The apprentice emptied the hellboxes at the end of each workday.