pit
nounverbnounverbnounverbcommon in dialogue
- United States//pɪt//
- United States/[pʰɪʔt]/
A hole in the ground.
noun
- 1
A hole in the ground.
The meadow around the town is full of old pits.
27 Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will returne vpon him.
- 2
An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
Two drivers have already gone into the pit this early in the race.
- 3
The section of a marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to be marched, such as the tam-tam; the front ensemble. Can also refer to the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
- 4
A mine.
- 5
A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.
The exact sites of Feng and Hao have yet to be verified, but seven pits containing chariots, horses and other Zhou burial objects were discovered at Fengxi, and a concentration of Western Zhou relics and tombs was found in the area of Doumen in Changan County on the east bank of the Feng River.
- 6
A trading pit.
- 7
An armpit.
- 8
A luggage hold.
- 9
A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].
- 10
The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
- 11
The grave, underworld or Hell.
Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
He keepeth back his soul from the pit.
- 12
An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
as fiercely as two game-cocks in the pit
- 13
Formerly, that part of a theatre, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theatre.
- 14
Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
- 15
slangOnly used in the pits.
His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business.
- 16
slangA mosh pit.
Because the museum was closed for renovation, the school decided to bring its fourth-graders to the pit at a Cannibal Corpse gig instead.
- 17
The center of the line.
The ball carrier can be with or without a football. For the “Head-On” tackle have the “Ball Carrier” stand right in front of the pit and face the tackler.
“They don't call the middle of the line The Pit for nothing. We really do get like animals, trying to claw one another apart in there. It is very hard in The Pit. No matter how it seems, no matter what the score shows, it's always hard. […]
- 18
slangThe emergency department of a hospital.
- 19
In tracheary elements, a section of the cell wall where the secondary wall is missing, and the primary wall is present. Pits generally occur in pairs and link two cells.
- 20
slangA bed.
Many Bacardi & Cokes later I climbed up into my pit and fell into a deep sleep, and woke up at one thirty in the morning and threw up my tea.
- 21
informalAn undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
This house is a total pit. We've got to do some cleaning!
- 22
figurativeA bleak, depressing state of mind.
He was in a pit of despair.
- 23
On a compact disc or similar recording medium, a tiny sunken area representing part of the encoded data.
- 24
Variant of dish pitShort for dish pit
Get back to the pit, dish bitch!
The plot takes us through the "sleaze pits", the lower West Side leather bars, which Travis notes with undue repulsion.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *puti Old English pytt Middle English pit English pit From Middle English pit, pet, püt, from Old English pytt, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well”), although there are phonetic difficulties.
verb
- 1
To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.
Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal.
- 2
To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.
- 3
To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?
For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
2017 August 25, Aukkarapon Niyomyat & Panarat Thepgumpanat, "Thai junta seeks Yingluck's arrest as former PM skips court verdict", in reuters.com, Reuters That movement, pitted against a Bangkok-centered royalist and pro-military elite, has been at the heart of years of turmoil.
2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera Thaksin's ouster triggered years of upheaval and division that has pitted a poor, rural majority in the north that supports the Shinawatras against royalists, the military and their urban backers.
- 4
To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
Bottas had to pit earlier than expected for fresh tyres. Hamilton followed him in next time around and the two drivers were instructed to stay off the kerbs to protect their tyres.
noun
- 1
A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
Near-synonym: pip
- 2
The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
[...] weapons "pits" (the plutonium components of nuclear weapons, named by analogy with the pit of a fruit such as a peach), [...].
The Nagasaki-type [bomb] [...] had a wider range of yield potential depending on the kind of fissile core and tamper assembly, or "pit," used in it.
Etymology
From Dutch pit (“kernel, core”), from Middle Dutch pitte, from Proto-Germanic *pittan (compare dialectal German Pfitze (“pimple”)), oblique of Proto-Germanic *piþō. Compare pith.
verb
- 1
To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.
One must pit a peach to make it ready for a pie.
noun
- 1
informalA pit bull terrier.
I resolved to find all my pits good homes and to get out of the rescue and breeding business.
Etymology
Shortening.
verb
- 1
To use the PIT maneuver, especially during a car chase.
Etymology
From PIT maneuver.
Forms
- plural
- pits
- past tense
- pitted
- past participle
- pitted
- present participle
- pitting
- third person singular
- pits