pit

Meaning

Noun

1. A hole in the ground.
2. An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
3. The section of a marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to be marched, such as the tam-tam; the front ensemble. Can also refer to the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
4. A mine.
5. 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. A trading pit.
7. (colloquial) An armpit.
8. A luggage hold.
9. (countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
10. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
11. The grave, underworld or Hell.
12. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
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. Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
15. (in-plural, slang) Only used in the pits.
16. (slang) A mosh pit.
17. The center of the line.
18. (slang) The emergency department of a hospital.
19. In tracheary elements, a section of the cell wall where the secondary wall is missing, and the primary wall is present. Pits generally occur in pairs and link two cells.
20. (slang) A bed.
21. (informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
22. (figuratively) A bleak, depressing state of mind.
23. (abbreviation, alt-of) Short for dish pit
24. On a compact disc or similar recording medium, a tiny sunken area representing part of the encoded data.

Verb

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.
4. (intransitive) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.

Verb

To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.

Opposite of

land

Synonyms

hole

🕳️

stone

🪨

hollow

cavity

ditch

seed

depression

mine

well

pip

trap

🪤

core

kernel

cave

trench

pothole

hole in the ground

shaft

quarry

fossa

mark

den

grave

🪦

pock

pitfall

colliery

burrow

ravine

nut

excavation

basin

pond

deep hole

parterre

orchestra pit

nucleus

moat

dent

match

oppose

puddle

grain

hell

scar

abyss

endocarp

orchestra

stone pit

concavity

perdition

Translations

fosse

noyau

🪨

trou

🕳️

Grube

fossa

hoyo

🕳️

kuil

foso

pozo

fosa

put

pit

buco

🕳️

Kern

zanja

Pronounced as (IPA)

/pɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: pit

Inherited from Old English: pytt

Cognate with German: Pfitze

In summary

From Middle English pit, pet, püt, from Old English pytt, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well”), although there are phonetic difficulties.