That notation would ordinarily refer to the canisters, not the boxes, and would ordinarily mean that the canisters had been discharged, that is, they had gone through their chemical reaction, generating oxygen and heat and becoming mostly inert.

"It will require attaching small shield generators to all of the torpedo casings, but I have found a shield modulation that will keep the photon torpedoes from becoming inert from the subspace interference."

Still, these pieces all have an impressively burnished surface; Mr. Part is an expert craftsman beneath the mystic robes, engineering subtle shifts that keep his music from becoming inert.

The three of them re-entered the auto-cab; Nat started it up and they drove on past the gasoline station and the old chupper, who stood expressionlessly, watching them go as if he had once more become inert, turned off like a simulacrum, a mere machine.

Preliminary readings indicated that the nanobots had become inert.

The willow-green wings pulsated - not in rhythm to normal breathing, but sluggishly, tenuously, at times becoming alarmingly inert, signaling a possible respirator breakdown.

The cold also slowed chemical processes, and between that and the lack of air, the acid would have become inert.

Shelf life has expired; the ingredients have become inert.

A barbed round dug into the turf near Corbec's foxhole cover and became inert.

The lifeboat shot out, becoming inert as it passed the screen.