out of/outside the box

[Barnhart]

FWIW:

There is an entry (rather complex) in _The Barnhart Dictionary
Companion_ (Vol. 11.3; Spring 1999, pp 207-8).  It's too long to
include here.  It includes _beyond the box_ and _out-of-the-box_ and
_outside the box_.  The earliest quote I have found thus far is 1971.

Regards,
David Barnhart

David K. Barnhart, Editor
The Barnhart Dictionary Companion [quarterly]
barnhart at highlands.com
www.highlands.com/Lexik

"Necessity obliges us to neologize."
Thomas Jefferson-August 16, 1813