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.
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 (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.
Hear it pronounced