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Difference between Sardine box and Sardine tin

sardine box—(UK hist.) used of the City & South London Railway opened in 1890, so called because of the packed conditions at rush hour:

  • The passengers in the “sardine box railway” had to sit facing each other on long benches in light too dim to read a newspaper.

sardine tin—(sl., pejor.)

1. a mini-car:

  • Leave that smelly little sardine tin alone. The exhaust smells a little, but that’s nothing.

2. an aircraft:

  • Just back from our Tenerife family holiday and will never forget the sardine tin we flew in.

3. (Nautical) a clumsy steamer:

  • No one was allowed on deck … and in the never ending rolling sardine tin, we were all tottering about uphill and downhill.

4. (Nautical) a submarine:

  • U-boat submariners were true dedicated sailors and so is anyone who gets inside a sardine tin under water.