pit
noun /pɪt/
/pɪt/
Idioms - [countable] a large deep hole in the ground
- We dug a deep pit in the yard.
- The body had been dumped in a pit.
- (figurative) The human mind is a dark, bottomless pit.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- deep
- shallow
- bottomless
- …
- dig
- [countable] (especially in compounds) a deep hole in the ground from which minerals are dug out
- a chalk/gravel pit
Extra Examples- They extract the mineral from open pits and underground mines.
- a disused gravel pit
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- deep
- shallow
- bottomless
- …
- dig
- (also coal mine)[countable] a place underground where coal is dug
- pit closures
- (British English) He went down the pit (= started work as a miner) when he left school.
Extra Examples- Most boys in the town worked in the pits.
- There's no more work in these pit villages.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- open
- go down
- village
- closure
- in a/the pit
- [countable] a small shallow hole in the surface of something, especially a mark left on the surface of the skin by some disease, such as chickenpox see also pitted
- (especially North American English)
enlarge image(also stone especially in British English)[countable] a hard shell containing the nut or seed in the middle of some types of fruit- a peach pit
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- apricot
- peach
- etc.
- …
- remove
- the pits[plural] (British English)(North American English usually the pit [countable])a place near the track where cars can stop for fuel, new tyres, etc. during a race see also pit stop
- (also orchestra pit)[countable] the place in a theatre just in front of the stage where the orchestra sits and plays for an opera, a ballet, etc. see also mosh pit
- [countable] (North American English, informal) an armpit (= the part of the body under the arm where it joins the shoulder)
- [countable] (North American English) the area of a stock exchange where a particular product is traded
- the corn pit
see also sandpit
deep hole
mine
in skin
in fruit
in motor racing
in theatre
part of body
in business
Word Originnoun senses 1 to 4 and noun senses 6 to 9,Old English pytt, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch put and German Pfütze, based on Latin puteus ‘well, shaft’. noun sense 5 mid 19th cent.: apparently from Dutch; related to pith.
Idioms
be the pits
- (informal) to be very bad or the worst example of something
a bottomless pit (of something)
- a thing or situation which seems to have no limits or seems never to end
- There isn't a bottomless pit of money for public spending.
- the bottomless pit of his sorrow
the pit of your/the stomach
- the bottom of the stomach where people say they feel strong feelings, especially fear
- He had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
- I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach when I saw the ambulance.