Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the mouth, the teeth.

1821		Chester Courant 20 Nov. 4/3: If [...] an injury should be done to the teeth, it is called a rattling of the box of dominoes.
1822		‘A Modern Mill’ in Egan Anecdotes of the Turf, the Chase etc. (1827) 221: He still came to the scratch to receive Surley’s knocks, / Which removed all the tools from his domino-box.
1824		Emerald (N.Y.) 16 Oct. 109/1–2: Round 21. – Kensett tapped the claret from under Hammond’s left peeper. Hammond paid an unpleasant visit to Kensett’s box of dominoes.
1824		Annals of Sporting 1 Feb. 107/2: He opened his domino-box, and tipped them the following elegant bit of chaff.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 25: The Pet [...] planted a heavy blow on Perkins’s domino box! [Ibid.] 171: Cain would have given Abel a good milling, perhaps queered his ogles, or spoiled his box of dominoes.
1834		‘The Mill’ Museum of Mirth 45/1: There’s a wap on his tater-trap — he’s made his box o’ dominos chatter.
1835		N.Y. Transcript 4 Feb. 2/2–3: M’Lean tapped Reed’s claret by a blow to his chin, which made his box of dominoes rattle.
1841		Era (London) 5 Dec. 11/3: M’Stravick [...] caught another on his ‘domino box,’ when blood oozed out.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 Mar. 2/4: His mouth, with open lips, resembled a box of dominoes.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 224: He slipped a tenner across to the black, who displayed his box of dominoes in a broad smile.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

2. a piano.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 126/2: from ca. 1880.

see bunch of fives n.

see bag of fruit n.

the mouth; the teeth.

1821		Taunton Courier 19 Dec. 5/1: The Bristol hero gave Hickman so hard a blow on his box of ivories that he retreated.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
1845		Era (London) 26 Jan. 10/3: Weston’s left peeper was in a suit of mourning, while the claret was visible from his box of ivories.
c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859		Morpeth Herald 30 Apr. 6/3: [They] pitched into him, first with one on the ‘knowledge box,’ two on the ‘peepers’ and threee on the ‘box of ivories’.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 159: Ivories teeth; ‘a box’ or ‘cage of ivories,’ a set of teeth, the mouth.
1873		Sl. Dict.

a watch or clock; a watchmaker’s shop.

1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 12/2: Box of minutes, the clock (prison).

(US) a fool.

1987

‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 72: We’re talking IQ 23. We’re talking, as most of you turkeys know by now, box of rocks.

(Can.) used when one wishes to express surprise, shock, e.g. she nearly had a box of sharks.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 127/1: since ca. 1955.

1. a tool-box.

1883

J. Greenwood Tag, Rag & Co. 113: ‘Your tools do you mean?’ ‘All the blessed box of tricks,’ said the tinker.

2. orig. sporting use, a crafty person.

1915		Burnley News 7 Apr. 5/3: Hodgson was once more in his most cunning moods. He was a box of tricks [...] and he throughly delighted the crowd.
1924		Derby Dly Teleg. 19 Nov. 4/2: [headline] Box of Tricks. Midland Hockey Team Win. Half Back Shines as Forward.
1932		Folkestone, Hythe [...] Herald 1 Oct. 12/6: Sparke was a real box of tricks and it was satisfying to see the other forweards playing up to his clever methods.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 133: What’s in your mind, you sly old box of tricks.
1951		Aberdeen Eve. News 5 Jan. 7/4: [pic. caption] Here’s a Box of Tricks.

3. the genitals.

c.1939

B. Bennett ‘The Street of a Thousand Lanterns’ in Billy Bennett’s Third Budget 31: They saw the young man called Hugh Pi Kan / Showing Wong-Wong his box of tricks.

4. the cinema [rhy. sl. + SE colloq. flicks].

1969

S.T. Kendall Up the Frog 25: Box o’ tricks – Flicks (the cinema).