tickey box

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See also: tickey-box

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From tickey, obsolete South African slang for a threepenny coin (the cost of a payphone call at the time of the term's origin), and box (telephone kiosk).[1]

Noun

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tickey box (plural tickey boxes)

  1. (South Africa, slang) A payphone.
    • 2002, Michiel Heyns, The Children's Day, Jonathan Ball Publishers, published 2002, →ISBN, page 81:
      [] He phones his mother in Hopetown every afternoon from the tickey box in the hostel.'
    • 2018, Kate S. Richards, Trainsurfer:
      “Come with us. Father may even have some coins for another tickey box. One that works,” Vusi said with mirth.

References

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  1. ^ Jonathan Green, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2005), →ISBN, page 1435