thunderbox UK /ˈθʌndəbɒks/US /ˈθʌndɚˌbɑks/ noun4 •(slang) A chamber pot enclosed in a box; a portable commode.True, our cash would run out, but Charleton wouldn't let us starve. He'd put us into shorts, and we should wash the dishes and clean the thunder-boxes and take out guests for walks. — 1939 •(UK, slang) Any lavatory or toilet, especially a rudimentary outdoor latrine or toilet, or an outhouse.It's an invaluable open-sided box with no bottom and a hole in the top. Perch this over a hole in the ground and voila! you have a thunder box. Comfy to sit on and handsome as well. — 1992 •A box of metal balls which is shaken to create a thunder sound effect.[T]wo articles, both indispensibly necessary to a theatre, are not blundered, viz. a property room, and thunder box!—no they are omitted altogether!! — 1806 •(no longer used) A blunderbuss; also, a cannon.In the year 1346, at the battle of Crecy, the english used a sort of cannons, which were then called thunder-boxes. — 1800 formsthunderboxes
