Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A carton in which soap is packed.
- noun A temporary platform used while making an impromptu or nonofficial public speech.
- intransitive verb To engage in impromptu or nonofficial public speaking, often flamboyantly.
- idiom (on (one's) soapbox) Speaking one's views passionately or self-importantly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun literally 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.
- noun figuratively, idiomatic A talk about one's pet topic (or the topic itself), especially when only tangentially relevant to an ongoing discussion.
- noun a
soapbox car - verb To give a
speech from (or as if from) a soapbox.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a crate for packing soap
- noun a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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.
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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 ...
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You guys just seem upset that his soapbox is taller than yours.
The Dark Knight: An Extraordinary Cinematic Revolution « FirstShowing.net 2008
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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.
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A soapbox was the chair on which Nellie had been sitting; there was no other.
The Workingman's Paradise An Australian Labour Novel John Maurice Miller
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And the evangelist on the soapbox is a friend of his.
A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago Ben Hecht 1929
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The soapbox will be her cell, for it was so small she could not lie down in it.
Homespun Tales Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1889
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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 Peter Stanford 2011
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DON GONYEA: There's a small lot on the main thoroughfare at the state fairgrounds that's called the soapbox.
NPR Topics: News 2011
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Any declared candidate is allowed to speak on the soapbox, which is sponsored by the Des Moines Register.
PhillyDeals 2011
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