Meaning
Very well, cheerful or full of energy. Informal and upbeat, commonly used after feel, be or look. Regional use: New Zealand.
Origin
This New Zealand expression presents a box of lively, chirping birds as an image of animation and good spirits. That interpretation is transparent, but the documentary sources do not identify a specific event or certain first use. It is best classified as a 20th-century New Zealand colloquialism of unresolved detailed origin.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Be a box of birds
- Feel a box of birds
- Look a box of birds
Usage Examples
- After a night's sleep and a hot breakfast, I felt a box of birds.
- Mere looked a box of birds when she arrived home from the hospital.