pit

Pluralpits

Formspits, pitting, pitted

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A large hole dug or formed in the ground, often deep and steep-sided, such as one dug for building work or an archaeological excavation.

   Workers dug a pit to lay the new foundations.

   Several deep pits scarred the abandoned construction site.

   Similarhole, excavation

   Note

   The physical hole that most of the word's other senses grow from. The King James Bible of 1611 already has the proverb "Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein." A peach's pit is a different word altogether, borrowed from Dutch; see the fruit stone. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. en.wikisource.org
   • The 1611 King James Bible contains the quoted proverb in Proverbs 26:27; the item quotes its opening clause. kingjamesbibleonline.org
   • The fruit-stone word is etymologically separate from the hole word and was borrowed from Dutch. en.wiktionary.org
2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To set people, animals, or things against one another in a fight, contest, or struggle.

   The debate format pits one candidate directly against another.

   Old rivalries pit lifelong friends against each other for the championship.

   UsageUsually pit one thing against another; often passive: pitted against each other.

   Similarset, match

3. 3
   fruit stonenouncountable

   The hard stone or seed at the center of certain fruits, such as peaches, cherries, and olives.

   Spit your cherry pits into this bowl so nobody steps on them.

   A single hard pit sat at the center of the ripe peach.

   UsageAmerican English usually uses pit; British English usually uses stone.

   Similarstone

4. 4
   repair area (racing)nouncountable

   A place beside a racetrack where vehicles stop during a race to have fuel added or repairs made.

   The leader lost valuable time during a slow stop in the pit.

   Crews worked frantically in the pit to change all four tires.

   UsageOften plural: drivers come into the pits, though the pit also works.

5. 5
   minenouncountable

   A mine dug to extract coal or other minerals from underground.

   Generations of the village earned their living down the pit.

   The pit flooded after miners struck an underground spring.

   UsageOften down the pit: miners went down the pit or worked in the pit.

   Similarmine, colliery

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A small hole or shallow depression in a surface, such as a dent in glass or metal, a natural hollow in the body, or a small scar left by smallpox or acne.

   A flying pebble left a pit in the windshield that later spread into a crack.

   Corrosion created shallow pits across the steel plate.

   Similardent, pockmark, hollow, depression, dimple

   Note

   Size does not limit this sense. The Economist in 2013 described pits about two microns across on plastic marine debris, roughly the size of a bacterial cell. Fossa is the anatomist's Latin word for the same kind of hollow. The making of such marks has its own verb. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The Economist described approximately two-micron pits on plastic marine debris in 2013 and compared their size to a bacterial cell. en.wiktionary.org
   • Fossa is a Latin-derived anatomical term for a pit or hollow. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   dog breednouncolloquialcountable

   A short-haired, muscular dog of the pit bull terrier breed.

   The neighbor's pit greeted everyone with a wagging tail.

   Two pits lounged in the sun on the front porch.

   Similarpittie

   Note

   A clipping of pit bull, as when Shorty Rossi in Four Feet Tall and Rising (2012) resolves to find "all my pits good homes." The breed has a whole range of nicknames. Pittie and pibble are affectionate, velvet hippo is playful slang, and shitbull is an insult, so choose with care. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Pit in the dog sense is a shortening of pit bull. en.wiktionary.org
   • Shorty Rossi's memoir Four Feet Tall and Rising was first published in 2012. penguinrandomhouse.com
   • Rossi writes that he resolved to find all his pits good homes; the quoted wording is accurate. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   take out stonesverbtransitive

   To remove the hard stone from a stone fruit such as a cherry, plum, or olive.

   The recipe asks you to pit a pound of fresh dates first.

   He carefully pitted each plum before stewing them.

   UsageOften pitted olives or pitted cherries: with the stones taken out.

   Similarstone, seed

9. 9
   under the armnouncolloquialcountable

   The hollow area under the arm where it joins the shoulder; an armpit.

   She shaved her pits before putting on the sleeveless dress.

   He swiped deodorant under each pit before the meeting.

   UsageShort for armpit, often pits: sweaty pits.

   Similararmpit, underarm

10. 10
    pull in (racing)verbintransitive

    To return to the pit area during a race for refueling, tire changes, or repairs.

    The leader chose to pit under the safety car.

    She pitted on lap twelve for fresh tires.

    UsagePit for fresh tires, pit on lap twelve, pit under the safety car.

    Note

    Andrew Benson writes of Bottas at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix having "to pit earlier than expected for fresh tyres." The verb comes from the pit lane itself, and timing a stop well can win or lose a race.

11. 11
    mark with dentsverbtransitive

    To make small holes or hollows in a surface; to mark with little dents.

    Sand blown by the wind can pit a car's windshield in a single season.

    Tiny craters pitted the surface of the moon rock.

    UsageMostly pitted: pitted metal, a face pitted with scars. Pitted olives instead have had their stones removed.

    Similarpock, dent, scar

12. 12
    dark moodnounfigurativelycountable

    A bleak, despairing state of mind that feels difficult to climb out of.

    Grief pulled her into a pit she couldn't seem to escape.

    He spent weeks in a pit of despair after losing his job.

    UsageOften a pit of despair; you sink into or climb out of it.

    Similarabyss, hole, slough

13. 13
    slam dancingnounslangcountable

    The area in front of a stage where concertgoers dance by shoving and slamming into one another; a mosh pit.

    He came away bruised after an hour in the pit at the punk show.

    Security kept pulling crowd-surfers out of the pit.

    Note

    Today it is heard as short for mosh pit, though punk slam dancers already called their patch of floor the pit. You are "in the pit," not merely near the stage. As slang it suits talk about concerts, not formal writing. Context keeps it clear, and at a metal gig no one hears it as the old theater floor.

14. 14
    dirty placenouncolloquialcountable

    A dirty, run-down, or thoroughly unpleasant place to be.

    The apartment turned into a pit after the long party.

    She refused to eat at that grimy little pit downtown.

    Similardump, hole, pigsty, dive, hovel

15. 15
    hellnoun

    The grave; the underworld or abode of the dead; hell as a place of punishment.

    He preached that the wicked would be flung into the pit at the end of days.

    Ancient poets imagined the dead descending into the pit beneath the earth.

    Similarhell, underworld, abyss, inferno

    Oppositeheaven, paradise

    Note

    Biblical and poetic English uses the word for where the dead go. The King James Bible of 1611 speaks of keeping a soul back "from the pit", and Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) has "th' infernal pit." It belongs to a solemn, religious register. The everyday descendant of that darkness is the pit of despair. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Pit has the biblical and poetic meaning of the grave, underworld, or hell. en.wiktionary.org
    • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. bridwell.omeka.net
    • The King James Bible describes keeping a soul back using the words 'from the pit'. en.wikisource.org
    • John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, first published in 1667. gutenberg.org
    • The original wording in Book IV is 'th’ infernal pit'; Gabriel speaks the line to Satan. en.wikisource.org
16. 16
    theater floornouncountable

    Formerly, in a theater, the floor-level seating below the stage and behind the orchestra, or the audience seated there.

    In Shakespeare's day, the rowdiest playgoers stood in the pit before the stage.

    In the old playhouse, people in the pit sat on benches close to the stage and called out to the actors.

    Note

    The word has moved as theaters have changed. Once it was the floor below the stage, behind the orchestra. In England it now names the area behind the stalls, while American theaters call the matching seats the parquet. It can mean the audience as well as the place, so the pit can applaud as easily as it can fill. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Historically, the theatre pit occupied the auditorium floor below stage level and behind the orchestra. en.wiktionary.org
17. 17
    nounslangplural

    Used only in the plural phrase the pits: something extremely bad or unpleasant, such as a situation, job or experience.

    The service on that flight was the pits: two hours late and not even a cup of water.

    Being stuck at home with the flu for all of spring break was the pits.

    UsageUsually after be: the food was the pits.

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