idiot box

American  

noun

Slang.

1. a television set; television.

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idiot box British  

noun

1. slang a television set

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idiot box Idioms  

1. A television set, as in There they sit in front of the idiot box, hour after hour. This slangy and pejorative expression dates from about 1960.

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Etymology

Origin of idiot box

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

idiot box

And there I was at home on our hand-me-down couch with a tiny Sally nestled in the crook of one arm while I stared at the palm-sized idiot box cradled in my other hand.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2022

TV and TV criticism are still trying to overcome the once-reflexive snobbery toward the idiot box.

From Slate ● Dec. 19, 2017

If you don’t know the namesake of Levine’s center, Cooney was the groundbreaking producer who came up with the idea in the ’60s that preschoolers could actually learn to think from the idiot box.

From Time ● Mar. 3, 2016

The idiot box gained heft and intellectual credibility to the point where you seem dumb if you are not watching it.”

From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2015

Network television needs pilot season because without it the necessary content that fuels the idiot box we all love would never get made.

From Forbes ● Aug. 10, 2015