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

Tucked away in a remote Colorado box canyon, the Telluride Film Festival has long leaned into its image as a kind of Brigadoon for cinephiles.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 29, 2024

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

This time they rested in a tiny box canyon to the right of the highway.

From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty