pit¹ /pit/

1. A hole in the earth
2. A mine shaft
3. A mine, esp a coalmine
4. A place from where minerals are dug
5. A prison, esp a castle prison entered from above (archaic)
6. A cavity in the ground or in a floor for any purpose, such as the reception of ashes or the inspection of the underside of motor cars, etc
7. A place beside the track where cars in a race can be refuelled and repaired
8. A hole for storing root-crops
9. A covered heap of potatoes, etc
10. A grave, esp one for many bodies
11. Hell, or its lowest depths
12. A hole used as a trap for wild animals
13. An enclosure in which animals are kept in captivity (esp bears)
14. An enclosure for cockfights or the like
15. Orig the ground floor of a theatre, or its occupants, or the part of the ground floor behind the stalls, now usu the area in front of the stage reserved for the orchestra in a theatre (also orchestra pit)
16. A bed (informal)
17. A very dirty or untidy place (slang)
18. Part of a corn-exchange floor assigned to some particular business, now esp a securities or commodities trading floor (US)
19. A noisy card game mimicking a US corn exchange
20. Any hollow or depression, eg the pit of the stomach below the breastbone
21. An indentation left by smallpox
22. A minute depression in a surface
23. A hollow made by a raindrop
24. A thin place in a cell wall, affording communication with another cell (botany)

1. To mark with little hollows
2. To put into a pit
3. To set (eg cocks in a cockpit)
4. To match (with against)

1. To become marked with pits
2. To make a pit stop
3. To retain an impression for a time after pressing (medicine)

pittˈed adjective

Marked with small pits

pittˈing noun

pittˈite noun (old)

Someone who frequents the pit of a theatre

pit brow noun (mining)

The top of a shaft

pit bull or pit bull terrier noun

A large breed of bull terrier developed orig for dogfighting

pitˈ-coal noun

Coal in the ordinary sense, not charcoal

pitˈ-dwelling noun

A primitive home made by roofing over a pit

pitˈfall noun

1. A lightly covered hole as a trap
2. A hidden danger or unsuspected difficulty (figurative)

pitˈhead noun (mining)

The ground at the mouth of a pit, and the machinery, etc, on it

pitˈman noun

1. A man who works in a coalpit or a sawpit, esp at sinking, repair, and inspection of shafts and at pumping in a mine
2. A rod connecting a rotary with a reciprocating part (US)

pit pony noun

A pony employed for haulage in a coalmine

pitˈprop noun

A (usu timber) support in the workings of a coalmine

pitˈ-saw noun

A saw used in a sawpit

pitˈ-sawˈyer noun

A bottom-sawyer

pit stop noun

A stop a racing-car makes during a motor race when it goes into the pits for repairs or refuelling

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• Immelmann turn
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