hotbox

[Dennis R. Preston]

Teenage smoking; Louisville KY area; early 1950s, especially of
shared cigarettes. "Don't hotbox that cig!" i.s., don't take several
long drags off it.

dInIs

>There is also the use of 'hotbox'  in the sense of drawing deeply on a
>cigarette. Jon Lighter doesn't have it, so I assume it is not in common
>use. (I may, on the other hand, simply be revealing my ignorance of US
>smoking mores). Thus
>
>1998 (context 1986) George Pelecanos _Sweet Forever_ 277: He hotboxed
>his cigarette and stabbed it savagely into the ashtray.
>
>However I have no cites for this other than in a couple of Pelecanos
>books, so it may be his own (mis)reading of the more usual use. In fact
>there _ is_ a reference in an Eminem lyric, but it's so opaque - 'Your
>little lungs is too small to hotbox with God' - that it could refer to
>closed cars, deep drags, or possibly something quite other.
>
>JG.


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 432-3791
Fax: (517) 453-3755