armpitn.
/ˈɑːmpɪt/, U.S. /ˈɑrmpɪt/ 1. The hollow under the arm where it is attached to the trunk, below the shoulder; the axilla.Cf. armhole n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > arm > [noun] > armpit
armholea1325
armpita1333
oxterc1420
okselle1489
asselea1500
wings1586
axilla1616
enmontery1655
underarm1933
pit1955
a1333 Gloss. W. de Bibbesworth (BL Add.) (1929) 99 Essuyl [a1325 Cambr. ascel] [glossed] armput [Cambr. armole].
a1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (Ashm.) (1894) 159 (MED) Þere comeþ greet perel of woundis þat ben..vndir þe arme-pittis.
?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 32 (MED) Þe stynkynge breth of mannys armpittis.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni sig. Rj Under ye arme pittis, and in the groynes.
1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. D. Sennert Art Chirurg.: 5th Bk. Pract. Physick (new ed.) vi. vi. 2677/2 This Joynt falls out downwards (for the most) part or under the Arm-pit hole.
1689 W. Salmon tr. Y. van Diemerbroeck Anat. Human Bodies i. 65/1 At length, double Appendixes extend themselves, of which the one enters the Armpit Vein, near the Pipe of the rough Artery.
1713 T. Parkyns Inn-play 2 Put your Head under his Right Arm Pit, and hold his hand down to your Left Side.
1760 R. James Canine Madness 132 He must..get a considerable quantity of the unction rubbed into the arm-pits.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 630 The English infantry struggled through the river, up to their armpits in water.
1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist (1918) v. 276 A squat young man came out of the porch, a leather portfolio tucked under his armpit.
1989 Sunday Times (Nexis) 1 Oct. I had intended to solicit her views on drama's current burning issue whether actresses should shave their armpits.
2009 S. Blundell Superconductivity: Very Short Introd. i. 5 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit's original scale used the temperature measured under a human armpit as one of its three fixed points.
2. The part corresponding to the human armpit in another animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > body and limbs > [noun] > limb > fore limb or leg > cavity corresponding to armpit
armpita1398
armhole1566
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. i. 1102 Þe femel bere bryngeþ forþ a lumpe of fleissh..and sche kepeþ þat lumpe hoot vnder hire armpittes.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 347 The Elephant alone hath twaine vnder his shoulders or legs before..lying hidden as it were within the arm-pits.
1884 Month Jan. 93 Sentinels [in a baboon troop] keep watch while the company feed, and then fill their cheek-pouches and even store corn under their armpits.
1976 N.Y. Times Mag. 10 Oct. 111/4 The snow was armpit deep to a tall giraffe.
2005 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 28 Aug. e2 Buy a walking harness that goes under the dog's armpits and attaches to the leash.
3. The angle (esp. the inner angle or axil) between a leaf, stalk, or branch of a plant and the stem or trunk. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > stem or stalk > [noun] > axil or part where leaf meets stem
navel?c1450
armpit1601
wing1763
navel-knot1766
axil1791
axilla1830
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 123 Vnder the wings or arm-pits (as it were) of the leaues.
1847 S. B. Parsons Rose (1860) xv. 207 I took a small worm out of the arm-pit of the leaves of one of my rose-trees.
2006 J. C. Miller et al. 100 Caterpillars 164 It even manages to find the outer curve of a forked branch and insert itself exactly in that shallow angle (the armpit of the fork).
4. colloquial (originally and chiefly U.S.). The most dirty, disgusting, or insalubrious part of a place or thing. Cf. the pits at pit n.1 22.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > foulness or filth > foul thing > [noun] > place or part
armpit1957
the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > [noun] > unpleasantness > unpleasant place
galère1756
Tartarus1821
galley1859
hellscape1894
asshole1918
arsehole1926
pisshole1928
shithole1930
shithouse1949
armpit1957
shitbox1966
bumhole1985
1957 D. Erskine Pink Hotel 11 This morning she called it [sc. a town] the goddamned armpit of Creation.
1970 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 4 12 Armpit of the nation, Las Cruces [New Mexico].
1978 J. Wambaugh Black Marble iv. 40 77th Street Station..was the armpit of detective duty.
1986 Washington Post 14 Jan. b3/2 Your alma mater is still the armpit of the universe.
1990 Sciences Nov. 51/2 A region that foreigners have called the armpit of Africa.
2011 Independent on Sunday 30 Jan. (New Review) 31/1 The two roundabouts at its core are the armpit of London.
Phrases
up to one's (also the) armpits and variants: to a great or compromising extent; deeply immersed, involved, or implicated (in a situation, enterprise, etc.); cf. up to the neck at neck n.1 Phrases 12b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > vertical extent > extension downwards or depth > depth [phrase] > in something to specific depth
up to the shoes1518
over head and ears?1521
head and ears1576
mid-rib deep1697
(immersed, steeped) to the lipsa1822
up to one's (also the) armpits1869
1869 Congress. Globe Apr. 549/1 The Company is steeped in fraud to the very armpits.
1878 Congress. Rec. Feb. 713/1 There certainly has been purgatory in the vicinity of his chamber, and I know that Colonel Polk has been in it up to his armpits.
1913 Scotsman 27 Feb. 8/4 Do not get the notion that the newspapers are not in this ‘graft’. They have been in it up to the armpits for twenty-five years.
1951 Washington Post 9 Dec. b6/4 Picture an Englishman of sober mien, up to the armpits in open books.
1986 Times 2 Oct. 8/6 Panama is up to its armpits in drug trafficking.
1991 N. Mailer Harlot's Ghost iii. iv. 434 He is indebted to me up to his armpit.
2014 Daily Star (Nexis) 21 Oct. 32 We have debts up to our armpits.
Compounds
attributive, with allusion to the smelliness or (occasionally) the private nature of the armpit (cf. sense 4).
ΚΠ
1930 W. H. Auden Poems 37 Waiting with bombs of conspiracy In arm-pit secrecy.
1988 Daily Tel. 20 July 7/6 The armpit atmosphere is made worse by the sickening smell of popcorn and hot dogs—the authentic smell of an American cinema.
1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 503/1 Once referred to as being possessed of ‘armpit eloquence’, Mort did not speak to homemakers in a polite tone.
2003 I. Edwards-Jones Wendy House v. 132 If there is a booze for barter in any armpit town anywhere in the world, this man will find it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1333