pit🔊

A hole in the ground.

(pit stop racing) (motor racing) An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.

(music) 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.

A mine.

(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.

(trading) A trading pit.

(colloquial) An armpit.

(aviation) A luggage hold.

A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.

The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.

The grave, underworld or Hell.

An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.

(theater) 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.

(gambling) Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.

(slang) (the pits).

(slang) A mosh pit.

(American football) The center of the line.

(slang) The emergency department of a hospital.

(botany) 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.

(slang) A bed.

(informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.

(figurative) A bleak, depressing state of mind.

(dish pit)

On a compact disc or similar recording medium, a tiny sunken area representing part of the encoded data.

To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.

To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.

To bring (something) into opposition with something else.

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

(pit of a stonefruit) (Northern US) A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit. +

(military) The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.

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

(informal) A pit bull terrier. +

To use the PIT maneuver, especially during a car chase.