honesty box

British

noun

a container into which members of the public are trusted to place payments when there is no attendant to collect them

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Megan Jackson, from Hetton-le-Hole, Sunderland, bakes and displays her own treats with an honesty box, which trusts customers to pay the correct amount of money while unattended.

From BBC • Jan. 19, 2026

On the side of an A-road between Canterbury and the north Kent coast is a small but colourful honesty box.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2025

"On the whole, most people are honest," she writes about the traditional honesty box.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2025

Despite plans to scale back the bakery next year, to spend more time with her young son, the honesty box will remain.

From BBC • Nov. 8, 2025

Radiohead put out In Rainbows as a digital download in 2007 employing an "honesty box" scheme.

From The Guardian • Dec. 25, 2010

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023