GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Pit , n. [OE. pit, put, AS. pytt a pit, hole, L. puteus a well, pit.]
   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.
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   Tumble me into some loathsome pit.
   Shak.
   
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   Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
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   Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
   Milton.
   
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   He keepth back his soul from the pit.
   Job xxxiii. 18.
   
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   A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
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   The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.
   Lam. iv. 20.
   
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   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.
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   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.
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   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.
   
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   [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.
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   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 (Zool.), 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 stop, See pit stop in the vocabulary. -- Pit viper (Zool.), 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.
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2.       
   Pit, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pitted ; p. pr. & vb. n. Pitting.]
   To place or put into a pit or hole.
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   They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts, tumbled into the grave.
   T. Grander.
   
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   To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a face pitted by smallpox.
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   To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.
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