Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Pit?

\Pit\, n. [OE. pit, put, AS. pytt a pit, hole, L. puteus a well, pit.] 1. A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation; specifically: (a) The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit. (b) A large hole in the ground from which material is dug or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a charcoal pit. (c) A vat sunk in the ground; as, a tan pit. Tumble me into some loathsome pit. --Shak. 2. Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades. Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained. --Milton. He keepth back his soul from the pit. --Job xxxiii. 18. 3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively. The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits. --Lam. iv. 20. 4. A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body; as: (a) The hollow place under the shoulder or arm; the axilla, or armpit. (b) See {Pit of the stomach} (below). (c) The indentation or mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox. 5. Formerly, that part of a theater, 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 theater. 6. An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats. ``As fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit.'' --Locke. 7. [Cf. D. pit, akin to E. pith.] (Bot.) (a) The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc. (b) A depression or thin spot in the wall of a duct. {Cold pit} (Hort.), an excavation in the earth, lined with masonry or boards, and covered with glass, but not artificially heated, -- used in winter for the storing and protection of half-hardly plants, and sometimes in the spring as a forcing bed. {Pit coal}, coal dug from the earth; mineral coal. {Pit frame}, the framework over the shaft of a coal mine. {Pit head}, the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit or mine. {Pit kiln}, an oven for coking coal. {Pit martin} (Zo["o]l.), the bank swallow. [Prov. Eng.] {Pit of the stomach} (Anat.), the depression on the middle line of the epigastric region of the abdomen at the lower end of the sternum; the infrasternal depression. {Pit saw} (Mech.), a saw worked by two men, one of whom stands on the log and the other beneath it. The place of the latter is often in a pit, whence the name. {Pit viper} (Zo["o]l.), any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples. {Working pit} (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.
\Pit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pitted}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Pitting}.] 1. To place or put into a pit or hole. They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts, tumbled into the grave. --T. Grander. 2. To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a face pitted by smallpox. 3. To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.