Pit

8 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
                  Tumble me into some loathsome pit. --Shak.
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     2. 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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     3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall;
        hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.
                                                    --Lam. iv. 20.
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     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     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.
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     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.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     {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.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pit \Pit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pitted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Pitting}.]
     1. To place or put into a pit or hole.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts,
              tumbled into the grave.               --T. Grander.
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     2. To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a
        face pitted by smallpox.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a
        contest; as, to pit one dog against another.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pit
       n 1: a sizeable hole (usually in the ground); "they dug a pit to
            bury the body" [syn: {cavity}]
       2: a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical
          depression) [syn: {fossa}]
       3: 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" [syn: {stone}, {endocarp}]
       4: a trap in the form of a concealed hole [syn: {pitfall}]
       5: a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate; "a
          British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'" [syn: {quarry},
          {stone pit}]
       6: lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra
          accompanies the performers [syn: {orchestra pit}]
       7: a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings
          and equipment connected with it [syn: {colliery}]
       v 1: 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" [syn: {oppose}, {match}, {play off}]
       2: mark with a scar; "The skin disease scarred his face
          permanently" [syn: {scar}, {mark}, {pock}]
       3: remove the pits from; "pit plums and cherries" [syn: {stone}]
       [also: {pitting}, {pitted}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  342 Moby Thesaurus words for "pit":
     American Stock Exchange, Amex, L, R, Wall Street, abysm, abyss,
     acorn, acting area, agora, alveolation, alveolus, amphitheater,
     antrum, apron, apron stage, arena, armpit, athletic field,
     audience, auditorium, auditory, background, backstage, balcony,
     band shell, bandstand, bank, barrow, basin, bear garden,
     beehive tomb, berry, bird seed, birthmark, blackhead, bleb,
     blemish, blister, board, bone house, bourse, bowl, box, box grave,
     box seat, boxing ring, bridge, bull ring, bulla, burial,
     burial chamber, burial mound, campus, canvas, catacombs, cavity,
     cenotaph, charnel house, chasm, check, cicatrix, circus, cist,
     cist grave, coal mine, cockpit, coliseum, colliery, colosseum,
     comedo, commodity exchange, concave, concavity, congregation,
     corn pit, coulisse, counter, course, crack, crater, craze,
     crevasse, cromlech, crypt, cup, curb, curb exchange, curb market,
     deep, deep six, defacement, defect, deformation, deformity, dent,
     depress, depression, depth, dig, diggings, dimple, dint, dip,
     disfiguration, disfigurement, distortion, dock, dokhma, dolmen,
     dress circle, dressing room, engrave, excavation, exchange,
     exchange floor, fault, fauteuil, feel, field, finish, flaw,
     flaxseed, flies, floor, fly floor, fly gallery, fold, follicle,
     forestage, forum, freckle, fruit, funnel chest, furrow, gallery,
     gold mine, gouge, grain, granular texture, grave, greenroom, grid,
     gridiron, ground, groundling, gulf, gym, gymnasium, hall, hayseed,
     hemangioma, hickey, hippodrome, hole, hollow, hollow shell,
     honeycomb, house, house of death, impress, impression, imprint,
     indent, indentation, indention, indenture, keloid, kernel, kink,
     knub, lacuna, last home, lentigo, lightboard, linseed, lists,
     locale, loge, long home, low green tent, low house, marketplace,
     mastaba, mat, match, mausoleum, milieu, milium, mine, mole,
     monstrance, mummy chamber, nap, narrow house, needle scar, nevus,
     nigger heaven, notch, nub, nut, open cut, open forum, opencast,
     orchestra, orchestra circle, orchestra pit, ossuarium, ossuary,
     outside market, over-the-counter market, palaestra, parade ground,
     paradise, parquet, parquet circle, parterre, passage grave,
     peanut gallery, performing area, pile, pimple, pip, place,
     platform, pock, pocket, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain,
     precinct, press in, print, prize ring, proscenium,
     proscenium boxes, proscenium stage, protuberance, public square,
     punch, punch bowl, punch in, purlieu, pustule, pyramid, quarry,
     quotation board, range, recess, reliquary, resting place, rift,
     ring, scab, scar, scene, scene of action, scenery, scoop, scratch,
     sebaceous cyst, seed, sepulcher, set back, set in, setting, shaft,
     shaft grave, shag, shell, shrine, sink, sinus, site, socket,
     spectator, sphere, split, squared circle, stadium, stage,
     stage left, stage right, stage set, stage setting, stall, stamp,
     standing room, stock exchange, stock market, stock ticker, stone,
     strawberry mark, structure, stupa, sty, sunken part, surface,
     surface texture, switchboard, tamp, telephone market, terrain,
     texture, the Big Board, the Exchange, the boards, theater,
     theatre stall, third market, ticker, ticker tape, tilting ground,
     tiltyard, tomb, tope, tower of silence, track, trough, tumulus,
     twist, vault, verruca, vesicle, vie, vug, wale, walk, warp, wart,
     weal, weave, well, welt, wen, wheat pit, whitehead, wings, woof,
     workings, wrestling ring, yawning abyss
  
  

From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  PIT
       Programmable Interval Timer
       
       

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  PIT
       
          Language for IBM 650.  (See {IT}).
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Pit
     a hole in the ground (Ex. 21:33, 34), a cistern for water (Gen.
     37:24; Jer. 14:3), a vault (41:9), a grave (Ps. 30:3). It is
     used as a figure for mischief (Ps. 9:15), and is the name given
     to the unseen place of woe (Rev. 20:1, 3). The slime-pits in the
     vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Gen. 14:10).
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PIT, fossa. A hole dug in the earth, which was filled with water, and in 
  which women thieves were drowned, instead of being hung. The punishment of 
  the pit was formerly common in Scotland.