COCKPIT

noun Date: 1585 1. a pit or enclosure for cockfights, a place noted for especially bloody, violent, or long-continued conflict, the pit of a theater, a compartment in a sailing warship used as quarters for junior officers and for treatment of the wounded in an engagement, a space or compartment in a usually small vehicle (as a boat, airplane, or automobile) from which it is steered, piloted, or driven