box canyon

American  

noun

1. a canyon with steep side walls terminating headwards in a vertical cliff.

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box canyon British  

noun

1. a canyon with vertical or almost vertical walls

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Etymology

Origin of box canyon

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75

Example Sentences

Perched 8,750 feet up in a box canyon in the Colorado Rockies, it’s reachable only by twisting roads or a white-knuckle drop into one of the nation’s highest airports.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 28, 2025

Two days later, the Hotshots were battling the wildfire in a box canyon when the winds suddenly shifted and the flames rapidly raced toward them.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 29, 2023

Tucked into a box canyon and with massive mountains circling the village, Telluride was one of Colorado’s wealthiest mining towns during the gold and silver booms that began in the late 1800s.

From Washington Post • Sep. 2, 2022

One day, as the morning’s first colors seeped across the horizon, my guide and I drove through a narrow box canyon and, when the road gave out, scrambled up on foot to an unworldly silence.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2018

She pointed behind us, to the box canyon.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss