I. pit 1 /pɪt/ BrE AmE noun [countable]
[ Sense 1-5,7-13: Language: Old English ; Origin: pytt ]
[ Sense 6: Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: Dutch ]
1 . HOLE
a) a hole in the ground, especially one made by digging:
The female digs a pit in which to lay the eggs.
a five-foot deep pit
⇨ ↑ sandpit
b) a large hole in the ground from which stones or minerals are obtained by digging
gravel/sand/chalk pit
2 . MINE especially British English a coal mine:
Dad first went down the pit (=worked in a coal mine) when he was 15 years old.
a national strike against pit closures
3 . MARK a small hollow mark in the surface of something, especially on your skin as the result of a disease:
the deep pits left by smallpox
4 . UNTIDY PLACE [usually singular] informal a house or room that is dirty, untidy, or in bad condition
5 . be the pits informal to be extremely bad:
The company refused to pay – I think it’s the pits.
6 . in/at the pit of your stomach if you have a feeling in the pit of your stomach, you have a sick or tight feeling in your stomach, usually because you are nervous or afraid:
I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something terrible was going to happen.
7 . CAR RACING the pits the place beside the track in a car race where cars can come in for petrol, new tyres etc ⇨ ↑ pit stop
8 . IN A THEATRE an ↑ orchestra pit
9 . IN A GARAGE a hole in the floor of a garage that lets you get under a car to repair it:
an inspection pit
10 . a/the pit of something literary a situation which makes you feel very bad:
Just thinking about the future plunged her into a pit of despair.
11 . IN FRUIT especially American English the single large hard seed in some fruits SYN stone British English :
a peach pit
12 . BODY PART informal an ↑ armpit
13 . BUSINESS American English the area of a ↑ stock exchange where people buy and sell shares SYN floor British English
II. pit 2 BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle pitted , present participle pitting )
1 . [transitive usually passive] to put small marks or holes in the surface of something
be pitted with something
The whole street was pitted with potholes.
2 . [transitive] especially American English to take out the single hard seed inside some fruits SYN stone :
Peel and pit two avocados.
3 . [intransitive] American English to stop in a car race to get petrol or have your car repaired
⇨ ↑ pitted
pit somebody/something against somebody/something phrasal verb
to test someone’s strength, ability, power etc in a competition or fight against someone or something else:
We’ll be pitting our team against the champions.
pit your wits against somebody (=compete against someone using your intelligence or knowledge)
Pit your wits against family or friends!
pit yourself against something/somebody
The men had to pit themselves against the forces of nature.
pit out phrasal verb American English informal
to ↑ sweat so much that your clothes become wet under your arms