I. ˈpit, usu -id.+V noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pitt, pit, from Old English pytt; akin to Old Saxon putti well, Old High German pfuzzi, pfuzza well, Old Norse pyttr well, pit, pool, cesspool; all from a prehistoric West Germanic-North Germanic word probably borrowed from Latin puteus well, pit; perhaps akin to Latin putare to prune — more at pave
1.
a. : a hole, shaft, or cavity in the ground formed naturally (as by erosion) or artificially (as by digging): as
(1) : a usually open deep excavation or shaft that has been dug for taking a mineral deposit from the ground or for quarrying stone
a gravel pit
a coal pit
(2) : a scooped-out place used for burning something (as charcoal, lime)
(3) dialect chiefly England : grave
thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit — Ps 30:3 (Authorized Version)
(4) : a hole in the ground usually covered over with something (as brushwood) and designed to serve as a trap into which wild animals may fall and so be captured
(5) : a covered excavation (as in a field) used for storing produce
(6) : propagating pit
(7) : an area dug out or sunk into the ground as a place of imprisonment
(8) : an excavation (as beneath a furnace) for receiving cinders or ashes
(9) : an area dug out as a shelter against gunfire
b. : an often sunken or depressed area designed for a particular use or purpose with reference to the surrounding or adjacent floor area: as
(1) : an enclosure in which animals are kept or are made to fight each other as a sport
a bear pit
like a couple of gamecocks in a pit
(2) chiefly Britain : the ground floor of a theater ; especially : the part of this area at the rear
(3) : orchestra pit
(4) : a usually rectangular sunken area in a garage or service station designed to permit more convenient greasing of and repair work on the underside of a car — called also grease pit
(5) : drop pit
(6) : a sunken area in a foundry floor designed to catch cast metal
(7) : a small area at one end of a bowling alley behind the pins that is designed to catch the pins when they are knocked down
(8) : an area alongside an auto speedway used for refueling or repairing the cars
(9) : an area in a securities or commodities exchange typically surrounded by a circle of steps in which members of one or the other branch of the exchange do the actual trading
the wheat pit
(10) : an area covered or filled with sawdust or similar soft material designed to cushion the impact of one (as a pole vaulter) landing on that spot after a leap
(11) : an area in which gaming tables are placed in a casino
2. : an abyss conceived of as the abode of evil spirits and the damned : hell
a demon from the depths of the pit — John Morley
3. : a hollow or indentation especially in the surface of an animal body or plant body : a surface depression: as
a. : a natural hollow in the surface of the body ; especially : a hollow below the lower end of the breastbone — usually used in the phrase pit of the stomach
b.
(1) : one of usually several or many small more or less round indentations left as scars in the skin typically as a result of disease : pockmark
(2) : a usually developmental imperfection in the enamel of a tooth that takes the form of a small pointed depression
c. : one of the small depressions left in a surface (as of metal, stone) as a result of some eroding or corrosive agent dripping or spattering on it
d. : a minute depression in the secondary wall of a plant cell that is formed where secondary-wall material has not covered the primary wall and that has a function in the intercellular movement of water and dissolved material
e. : one of the small depressed lesions left in the surface of a plant by disease
4. : a plant disease that produces pits in the plants affected
II. verb
( pitted ; pitted ; pitting ; pits )
Etymology: Middle English pitten, from pitt, pit, n.
transitive verb
1.
a. : to put into or as if into a pit ; especially : to store (as vegetables) in a pit
b. : to make pits in
the field had been pitted by the explosions
especially : to make small indentations (as pockmarks) in
a face that had been pitted by smallpox
packed sand that had been pitted by the heavy rain
2.
a. : to set (as gamecocks) into or as if into a pit so as to fight
pitted a pair of cocks against each other
b. : to set into opposition or rivalry : match against an opponent or competitor : oppose
pitting his courage and his will against terrific odds — E.O.Hauser
we will be pitted against each other — T.B.Costain
pitting one prizefighter against another
intransitive verb
1. : to yield to pressure (as of the finger) and temporarily retain the indentation so made
tissue affected by edema will usually pit
2. : to form small indentations : become marked with pits
a metal that pitted after contact with acid
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Dutch, from Middle Dutch pitte, pit — more at pith
: the stone of a drupaceous fruit (as a cherry) — compare pip IV 1
IV. transitive verb
( pitted ; pitted ; pitting ; pits )
: to remove the pit from (a fruit)
V.
chiefly Scotland
variant of put
VI. noun
1. pits plural : something or someone that is the worst — used with the
2. : mosh pit herein