PIT

colliery, pit

(noun) a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it

pit, quarry, stone pit

(noun) a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate; “a British term for ‘quarry’ is ‘stone pit’”

pit, pitfall

(noun) a trap in the form of a concealed hole

pit

(noun) (auto racing) an area at the side of a racetrack where the race cars are serviced and refueled

pit

(noun) (commodity exchange) the part of the floor of a commodity exchange where trading in a particular commodity is carried on

pit

(noun) an enclosure in which animals are made to fight

Hell, perdition, Inferno, infernal region, nether region, pit

(noun) (Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment; “Hurl’d headlong...To bottomless perdition, there to dwell”- John Milton; “a demon from the depths of the pit”; “Hell is paved with good intentions”-Dr. Johnson

pit, cavity

(noun) a sizeable hole (usually in the ground); “they dug a pit to bury the body”

stone, pit, endocarp

(noun) the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed; “you should remove the stones from prunes before cooking”

pit, fossa

(noun) a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)

pit, stone

(verb) remove the pits from; “pit plums and cherries”

pit, oppose, match, play off

(verb) set into opposition or rivalry; “let them match their best athletes against ours”; “pit a chess player against the Russian champion”; “He plays his two children off against each other”

scar, mark, pock, pit

(verb) mark with a scar; “The skin disease scarred his face permanently”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Proper noun

PIT (plural er-noun)

Abbreviation of Pittsburgh.

Noun

PIT (plural PITs)

personal income tax

(initialism) Precision Immobilization Technique (or Pursuit Intervention Technique or Parallel Immobilization Technique), a method for ending car chases by causing a controlled collision forcing the pursued car to spin.

(computing) Programmable interval timer

Anagrams

• PTI, TIP, TPI, tip, tpi

Etymology 1

Noun

pit (plural pits)

A hole in the ground.

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

(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.

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.

The bottom part of something.

(colloquial) Armpit.

(aviation) A luggage hold.

(countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.

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

The grave, or underworld.

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

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) A pit bull terrier.

(in the plural, with the, slang) Only used in the pits.

(slang) A mosh pit.

(law enforcement, usually used with "maneuver") A maneuver by which a police officer, by use of a police car, nudges the vehicle of a fleeing suspect enough for the suspect's vehicle to lose control and become disabled so the police officer can catch and apprehend the suspect.

The fissile core of a nuclear weapon, commonly made of plutonium surrounded by high-explosive lenses.

(hospital slang) The emergency department.

Synonyms

• (pit bull terrier): pibble (informal), pit bull, pittie (informal), shitbull (pejorative), velvet hippo (slang)

Verb

pit (third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

(transitive) To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.

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

(transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.

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

Etymology 2

Noun

pit (plural pits)

A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.

A shell in a drupe containing a seed.

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

Verb

pit (third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

(transitive) To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.

Etymology 3

Shortening.

Noun

pit (plural pits)

(informal) A pit bull terrier.

Anagrams

• PTI, TIP, TPI, tip, tpi

Source: Wiktionary

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Pit, n. Etym: [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. Etym: [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 (Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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