Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Buxum

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

BUXUM (πύξος). Box-wood; an article much employed by the ancients, as it is with us, on account of its consistency and fitness for working; whence the word is commonly used to signify any of the various articles made of such wood; for example: —

1. A boy's whipping-top. Virg. Aen. vii. 382. Pers. Sat. iii. 51.

2. A box-wood flute or pipe. (Ovid. Met. xiv. 537. Prop. iv. 8. 42.) A pair of box-wood pipes from Greece are preserved in the British Museum. See TIBIA.

3. A box-wood comb. (Ov. Fast. vi. 229. Juv. xiv. 194.) See PECTEN.

4. A box-wood tablet, covered with wax, for writing on. (Prop. iii. 23. 8.) See CERA, TABELLA.