society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > excavated area > of coal-mine (4)
A pit or mine where coal is excavated; a coal mine. Cf. pit, n.1 3b.
spec. An excavation made in digging for coal; (hence) the shaft of a coal mine. Later more generally: a coal mine.
The steep face of a quarry or other excavation (quarry heugh); an excavation for coal, originally open; a coal-pit; figurative a pit.