box room

plural box rooms

1. A small storeroom in a house, often upstairs, typically used for storage of boxes and other items.

   What about the box room, Tom? I mean, we could put your stuff in the garage.

   2000 February 5, Douglas Watkinson et al., “Beyond the Grave”, in Midsomer Murders

2. figurativelyA place where things are relegated for later use.

   He saw her now only as a spy. Their love and his grief were relegated to the boxroom of his mind. Later, perhaps they would be dragged out, dispassionately examined, and then bitterly thrust back with other sentimental baggage he would rather forget.

   1953, Ian Fleming, “The Bleeding Heart”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 187