A cylindrical or rectangular box designed specifically for storing and carrying hats, often made of cardboard, wood, or leather.
From hat + box, combining Old English hæt with box (a container). The term became common in the 1700s when hat ownership and travel became more common among the middle class.
Hatboxes were so iconic to travel that they became a symbol of leisure and fashion—in the early 1900s, a woman traveling without at least one hatbox would have been considered fashionably negligent!
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