saltbox

salt +‎ box

saltbox (plural saltboxes)

1. A box for keeping salt in.
2. A similar box formerly used as a percussion instrument in burlesque music.
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     [O]ne who had heard without seeing the application, would have mistaken the sound for that of a salt-box, in the hand of a dext'rous Merry Andrew, belonging to one of the booths at Bartholomew Fair.

3. (US) A distinctively shaped wooden-frame house with two stories at the front and one behind, characteristic of New England.
   • 2007 March 9, Wendy Knight, “A Town That’s Still Down to Earth in a Highflying Ski Region”, in New York Times‎:

     Rather than build new homes, weekenders are renovating existing homes, with saltboxes and capes predominant.

4. A roof where one side slopes farther down than the other.
5. (UK, slang, historical) The cell in Newgate prison for a prisoner condemned to death.
   • Heather Herrman, The Corpse Queen, in 2017, Dark Screams (volume 6)

     “I think I'd rather languish in the Salt Box at Newgate Prison wearing the Devil's Claws than to be married to that tree,” Kierney said.

   • 2018, Charles Palliser, The Quincunx: The Clothiers:

     As expected, Peg was indeed cast for death and was moved to the 'salt box' (the condemned cell) in the Press-yard to be near the New Drop.

• (condemned cell at Newgate): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary