Pack up earth in a box! (5)

I believe the answer is:

cease

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'pack' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'up earth in a box' is the wordplay.
'up earth' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about the 'up' bit.).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'a box' becomes 'case' (I've seen this before).
'e' inserted inside 'case' is 'CEASE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cease that I've seen before include "Stop, finish" , "Finish, end" , "Political group" , "Stop, terminate" , "Come to an end" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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