Definition of "pit"

pit¹

/pɪt/

noun
plural pits
1. A hole in the ground.
  Quotations
  27 Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will returne vpon him.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Proverbs 26:27
2. (motor racing) An area at a 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.
  Quotations
  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.
  1991 , Zou Zongxu, translated by Susan Whitfield, The Land Within the Passes: A History of Xian‎, Viking, page 68
6. (trading) A trading pit.
7. (colloquial) Armpit.
8. (aviation) A luggage hold.
9. (countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
  Quotations
  [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, […].
  2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
10. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
11. The grave, underworld or Hell.
  Quotations
  Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
  1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
  He keepeth back his soul from the pit.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Job xxxiii:18
12. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
  Quotations
  as fiercely as two game-cocks in the pit
  1693, [John Locke], “§145”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […]
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. (gambling) Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
15. (in the plural, with the, slang) Only used in the pits.
16. (slang) A mosh pit.
17. (American football) The center of the line.
  Quotations
  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.
  2007, Bob Swope, Youth Football Drills and Plays Handbook, page 29
  “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. […]
  2018, Paul Zimmerman, The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football
18. (hospital slang) The emergency department.
19. (UK, military, slang) A bed.
  Quotations
  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.
  2009, Julian Beirne, Diary of a Sapper, page 55
20. (informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
  Quotations
  The plot takes us through the "sleaze pits", the lower West Side leather bars, which Travis notes with undue repulsion.
  1979 April 28, Eric Rofes, “New Yech, New Yech”, in Gay Community News, page 14
verb
third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted
1. (transitive) To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.
2. (transitive) To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.
3. (transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
  Quotations
  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.
  2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Hunger Games‎
  That movement, pitted against a Bangkok-centered royalist and pro-military elite, has been at the heart of years of turmoil.
  2017 August 25, Aukkarapon Niyomyat & Panarat Thepgumpanat, "Thai junta seeks Yingluck's arrest as former PM skips court verdict", in reuters.com, Reuters
  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.
  2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera
4. (intransitive, motor racing) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
  Quotations
  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.
  2020 September 13, Andrew Benson, “Tuscan Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton claims 90th win after incredible race”, in BBC Sport‎

pit²

/pɪt/

noun
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. (military) The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
  Quotations
  [...] weapons "pits" (the plutonium components of nuclear weapons, named by analogy with the pit of a fruit such as a peach), [...].
  1996, “2 Background”, in National Research Council (United States), editor, An Evaluation of the Electrometallurgical Approach for Treatment of Excess Weapons Plutonium, Washington DC, USA: National Academies Press, page 15
  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.
  1999, Anne C Fitzpatrick, Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952‎, Los Alamos, NM (United States): Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Thesis LA-13577-T, page 248
verb
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.

pit³

/pɪt/

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

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