Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A carton in which soap is packed.
- n. A temporary platform used while making an impromptu or nonofficial public speech.
- v. Informal To engage in impromptu or nonofficial public speaking, often flamboyantly.
- idiom. on (one's) soapbox Speaking one's views passionately or self-importantly.
Wiktionary
- n. A crate for packing soap, or, by extension, any inexpensive crude platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it, especially when used for speeches.
- n. A talk about one's pet topic (or the topic itself,) especially when only tangentially relevant to an ongoing discussion.
- n. a soapbox car
- v. To give a speech from (or as if from) a soapbox.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a crate for packing soap
- n. a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it
Examples
“The only real reason to target vices for taxation besides our Puritanical politicians on their soapbox is that tobacco and alcohol are very inelastic goods.”
“If it weren't that they'd throw a massive amount of money at fixing a problem that doesn't need government's money to fix (It needs government to but the hell out and let the market correct itself and settle back down; but that's another conversation for another day, as I'm digressing, and the soapbox is getting a little rickety), I'd support them just to show how disillusioned I am with their party ...”
“You guys just seem upset that his soapbox is taller than yours.”
The Dark Knight: An Extraordinary Cinematic Revolution « FirstShowing.net
“The soapbox is a crudely painted recycled wooden crate that belongs to another of my students; she hauls it to various public events in Detroit.”
“A soapbox was the chair on which Nellie had been sitting; there was no other.”
“And the evangelist on the soapbox is a friend of his.”
“The soapbox will be her cell, for it was so small she could not lie down in it.”
“May has been vocal in his online "soapbox" - "I was doing it long before anyone used the word blog" - in opposing any repeal of the fox-hunting ban.”
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
“DON GONYEA: There's a small lot on the main thoroughfare at the state fairgrounds that's called the soapbox.”
“Any declared candidate is allowed to speak on the soapbox, which is sponsored by the Des Moines Register.”
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