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Webster 1913 Edition

Pit

Pit

,
Noun.
[OE.
pit
,
put
, AS.
pytt
a pit, hole, L.
puteus
a well, pit.]
1.
A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
; specifically:
(a)
The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit.
(b)
A large hole in the ground from which material is dug or quarried;
as, a stone
pit
; a gravel
pit
; or in which material is made by burning;
as, a lime
pit
; a charcoal
pit
.
(c)
A vat sunk in the ground;
as, a tan
pit
.
Tumble me into some loathsome
pit
.
Shakespeare
2.
Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
Back to the infernal
pit
I drag thee chained.
Milton.
He keepth back his soul from the
pit
.
Job xxxiii. 18.
3.
A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
The anointed of the Lord was taken in their
pits
.
Lam. iv. 20.
4.
A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body
; as:
(a)
The hollow place under the shoulder or arm; the axilla, or armpit.
(b)
See
Pit of the stomach
(below).
(c)
The indentation or mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
5.
Formerly, that part of a theater, 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 theater.
6.
An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
“As fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit.”
Locke.
7.
[Cf. D.
pit
, akin to E.
pith
.]
(Bot.)
(a)
The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone;
as, a peach
pit
; a cherry
pit
, etc.
(b)
A depression or thin spot in the wall of a duct.
Cold pit
(Hort.)
,
an excavation in the earth, lined with masonry or boards, and covered with glass, but not artificially heated, – used in winter for the storing and protection of half-hardly plants, and sometimes in the spring as a forcing bed.
–
Pit coal
,
coal dug from the earth; mineral coal.
–
Pit frame
,
the framework over the shaft of a coal mine.
–
Pit head
,
the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit or mine.
–
Pit kiln
,
an oven for coking coal.
–
Pit martin
(Zool.)
,
the bank swallow.
[Prov. Eng.]
–
Pit of the stomach
(Anat.)
,
the depression on the middle line of the epigastric region of the abdomen at the lower end of the sternum; the infrasternal depression.
–
Pit saw
(Mech.)
,
a saw worked by two men, one of whom stands on the log and the other beneath it. The place of the latter is often in a pit, whence the name.
–
pit stop
,
See
pit stop
in the vocabulary.
–
Pit viper
(Zool.)
,
any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples.
–
Working pit
(Min.)
,
a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; – in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.

Pit

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Pitted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Pitting
.]
1.
To place or put into a pit or hole.
They lived like beasts, and were
pitted
like beasts, tumbled into the grave.
T. Grander.
2.
To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules;
as, a face
pitted
by smallpox
.
3.
To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest;
as, to
pit
one dog against another
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Pit

PIT

,
Verb.
T.
To indent; to press into hollows.
1.
To mark with little hollows, as by variolous pustules; as the face pitted by the small pocks.
2.
To set in competition, as in combat.

Definition 2024

pit

pit

See also: PIT, pít, pît, and pīt

English

Close-up of a pit

Noun

pit ‎(plural pits)

  1. A hole in the ground.
  2. (motor racing) An area at a motor racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
  3. (music) A section of the marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to march, such as the tam tam. Also, the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
  4. A mine.
  5. (archaeology) 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.
  6. (trading) A trading pit.
  7. (in the plural, with the, idiomatic, slang) Something particularly unpleasant.
    His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business.‎
  8. The bottom part of.
    I felt pain in the pit of my stomach.‎
  9. (colloquial) Armpit.
  10. (aviation) A luggage hold.
  11. (countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [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, […].
  12. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
  13. The grave, or underworld.
    • Milton
      Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
    • Bible, Job xxxiii. 18
      He keepeth back his soul from the pit.
  14. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
    • John Locke
      as fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit
  15. 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.
  16. (gambling) Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

pit ‎(third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

  1. (transitive) To make pits in.
    Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal.
  2. To put (a dog) into a pit for fighting.
  3. (transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
    Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?
    • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games
      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.
  4. (intransitive, motor racing) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Dutch pit ‎(“kernel, core”), from Middle Dutch pitte, from Proto-Germanic *pittan (compare Middle Franconian Pfitze ‎(“pimple”)), oblique of *piþō. Compare pith.

Noun

pit ‎(plural pits)

  1. A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
  2. A shell in a drupe containing a seed.
  3. The core of an implosion weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
Translations

Verb

pit ‎(third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

  1. (transitive) 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.
Translations

Etymology 3

Shortening.

Noun

pit ‎(plural pits)

  1. (informal) A pit bull terrier.
    • 2012, Shorty Rossi, Four Feet Tall and Rising (page 186)
      I resolved to find all my pits good homes and to get out of the rescue and breeding business.

Anagrams

Cahuilla

Noun

pít

  1. road, path, way

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin pectus, from Proto-Italic *pektos, from Proto-Indo-European *peg ‎(“breast”). Compare Italian petto, Portuguese peito, Romanian piept, Spanish pecho.

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic) IPA(key): /ˈpit/
  • (Central) IPA(key): /ˈpit/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /ˈpit/

Noun

pit m ‎(plural pits)

  1. breast

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ɪt
  • IPA(key): /pɪt/

Noun

pit c ‎(plural pitten, diminutive pitje n)

  1. A seed inside a fruit.
  2. burner (on a stove)
  3. spirit, vigour
    Hij heeft pit.‎ ― He has something going for him.

Derived terms

Anagrams

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish pit ‎(“pit, hollow; female pudenda”), possibly related to putte ‎(“pit, hollow”), Latin puteus.

Noun

pit f ‎(genitive singular pite, nominative plural piteanna)

  1. ****
  2. shell-less crab

Declension

Derived terms

  • piteog f, piteachán m, piteán m ‎(“effeminate man, sissy”)

Related terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
pit phit bpit
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • "pit" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • “pit, (put)” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Lojban

Rafsi

pit

  1. rafsi of plita.

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pʲit/

Verb

pit

  1. supine of piś

Scots

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɪt/

Verb

pit ‎(third-person singular present pits, present participle pittin, past pit, past participle pit)

  1. to put

Synonyms

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish pit ‎(“pit, hollow; female pudenda”), possibly related to putte ‎(“pit, hollow”), Latin puteus.

Noun

pit f ‎(genitive singular pite, plural pitean)

  1. female external genitalia, ****
  2. (vulgar) ****, pussy

References

  • Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, ISBN 0 901771 92 9
  • “pit, (put)” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English pytt ‎(“pit, hole in the ground, well, grave, pustule, pockmark”), from Proto-Germanic *putjaz ‎(“pit, well”), from Latin puteus ‎(“trench, pit, well”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewǝ- ‎(“to beat, hew”). Cognate with West Frisian pet ‎(“pit”), Saterland Frisian put ‎(“pit”), Dutch put ‎(“well, pockmark”), German Pfütze ‎(“puddle, pool”), Danish pyt ‎(“pit”), Icelandic pytt ‎(“pit”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈpɪt/
  • Rhymes: -ɪt

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