ballotin

English

Etymology

From French ballotin.

Noun

ballotin (plural ballotins)

1. A small, elegant box (usually containing chocolates).
   • 1989 November, Texas Monthly, volume 17, number 11, page 179:

     […] jingle bells chime in with the season's magic in this lovely tapestry ballotin filled with 1 6 oz. of assorted chocolates.

2. (obsolete) An officer in charge of a ballot box.
   • 1656, James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana:

     one Secretary or Ballotin with a red Box shall follow the green one: and every Senator shall put one Ball into for one of these six boxes

Translations

ballot box officer

• Finnish: uurnanvalvoja

References

• “ballotin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From ballot (“bundle”), diminutive of balle (“bundle tied together with string”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.lɔ.tɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ballotin m (plural ballotins)

1. a small, elegant box, usually of cardboard, containing pralines (chocolate)

Further reading

• “ballotin”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.