Wiktionary
n. 1 (context chiefly British and Canada English) a blue container used for the collection of household waste (such as tin cans and newspapers) for recycling by a municipal authority 2 an electronic device used to bypass payment on a tone pulse telephone system
Wikipedia
A blue box is an electronic device that simulated an operator by generating the same tones employed by a telephone operator's dialing console to for example switch long-distance calls. A blue box is a tool that emerged in the 1960s and '70s; it allowed users to route their own calls by emulating the in-band signaling mechanism that then controlled switching in long distance dialing systems. The most typical use of a blue box was to place free telephone calls. A related device, the black box, enabled one to receive calls which were free to the caller. The blue box no longer works in most Western nations, as modern switching systems do not use in-band signaling. Instead, signaling occurs on an out-of-band channel which cannot be accessed from the line the caller is using, a system called Common Channel Interoffice Signaling or CCIS.
Blue box is an early phreaking tool that simulates a telephone operator's dialing console.
Blue box may also refer to:
Blue Box is a BBC Books original novel written by Kate Orman and based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Sixth Doctor and Peri, written from a first-person perspective by a fictional journalist, in a similar manner to Who Killed Kennedy by David Bishop. The character Ian Mond is named after a well-known fan who is a member of various internet forums including Jade Pagoda and the Outpost Gallifrey forums.
The title of this novel does not refer to the TARDIS, but to the blue box used by phreakers, and by analogy, the alien hacking tool that is the book's MacGuffin.
Blue Box is a 1996 album released by recording artist Kate Ceberano. It has been certified Gold in Australia. The album's second single, "Change" was nominated for two ARIA Awards in 1996.
Usage examples of "blue box".
The bathroom counter was a clutter of jars and bottles: Alba Botanica lotion, cotton puffs in a glass jar, soap balls, a basket of dusty pinecones, a blue box of Tampax Super Plus, an LAPD coffee mug holding a toothbrush and a wilted tube of Crest.
Yamato said, staring at someone wearing some big blue box over their head and torso.
I had expected to reach the rendezvous first, but from some distance away I could see a blue box already parked in the designated place.
Off in the shadows, the Sandia National Laboratory, in Albuquerque, was tweaking a chunky little blue box.