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box stove
DCHP-2 (May 2010)
n. — rare, historical, Housing
a cast-iron stove with a firebox suitable for burning wood (see Image 1).
Type: 1. Origin — The term is often used in Quebec, Ontario, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba, with limited currency in other provinces (see Chart 1). It is a synonym for Canada stove, Canadian stove or box heater. Box stove is also quite frequent in Ireland and Australia, however. It is today a preservation of a term that was once quite widespread in the colonies. OED-3 lists only one 1878 quotation (s.v. "box n.2 C1 box-stove, 1 April 2016) from London, UK. While generality of the concept and spread to Australia and New Zealand might suggest a possible British origin, the purported synonym Canada stove and its design feature of a square firebox make Type 1 - Origin the most plausible scenario at present.
Box stoves are no longer built or marketed in Canada except in antique stores; thus, the main use of the term is historical (see the 2001 quotation).
See also ITP Nelson, s.v. "box stove", which is marked "Canadian".
Box stoves are no longer built or marketed in Canada except in antique stores; thus, the main use of the term is historical (see the 2001 quotation).
See also ITP Nelson, s.v. "box stove", which is marked "Canadian".
Quotations
1828
He at all times, keeps on hand all kinds of assortments of [. . .] Box Stoves, Plough Points, to fit almost any Ploughs used in this country.
1853
We would ask how in the name of common sense could it be otherwise, with perhaps a dozen persons taking medicines, with nothing but a closed stool to resort to, placed at their bed sides, and at the same time only a common box stove in the room, perhaps heated to a temperature of 120 degrees, without any possibility of the effluvia escaping, except by opening the windows, which of course cannot be permitted in winter -- it must be sure to engender a bad malaria, and render it deadly powerful; and such is surely the case, for in many of the wards, with the best efforts of ventilation, the odour which remains is but too perceptible to the senses, the very walls being corrupted by it.
1870
Consisting of Tables, Chairs, Bedsteads, Washstand and Crockery Basins, Carpets, Clocks, Bedding, Mattresses, Table Cloths; a splendid Cast Iron Box Stove, No. 258; Piping, Cooking Stoves, Cast Iron; and other articles too numerous to mention.
1908
4-h.p. Gasoline Engine, 12-horse sled; 12-horse spring waggon, 1 cart, 2 set scales, 1 steelyards, 1 power meat cutter, 1 hand meat cutter, 2 grindstones, 2 sausage fillers, 2 farm boilers, 2 counterchafts, 1 set of blocks, and rope, 1 box stove, 1 twine stand, 2 tubs, 2 barrels, 1 fan and pulley, 1 lot belting
1928
Thought I'd like my own folks around me, and my feet propped agin a cosey leetle box-stove come wintertime, swappin yarns with the neighbours.
1963
"Favorite" Box Stove. Cast iron, attractively scrolled. For wood burning. Swing fire door. Two cooking holes, removable top section, and six-inch smoke-pipe collar on two larger models. $39.95.
1979
The 27-year-old Parkdale resident bought a box stove for $300, including installation, and he scrounges his wood at a loading dock.
1987
A small box stove, which once did a poor job of heating the building, is in place at the back of the room.
2001
He remembers the box stove that was their only source of heat back then and how cold it would be on a Monday morning after the weekend - they would do their reading dressed in full winter clothing until the classroom warmed up again.
2008
On average, advanced, EPA certified stoves are about one-third more efficient than the old box stoves.
References
- ITP Nelson
Images
Chart 1: Regional Domain Search, 10 Nov. 2013
