pitting

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of pit.

   The tournament is pitting last year's champion against a determined newcomer.

   Pitting the olives before cooking saves time at the table.

   Note

   One spelling serves several different verbs: pitting one rival against another, pitting cherries, and pitting during a race. Only the racing verb is intransitive (the leader was pitting for fresh tires). The others need an object. The form also sits close to the verb meaning 'to mark with little hollows', which is why it overlaps with the corrosion noun.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The formation of small cavities or holes on a surface as a result of corrosion.

   Inspectors found significant pitting along the welded seams of the storage tank.

   Pitting on the turbine blades steadily reduced the engine's efficiency.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The act of digging a pit into the ground.

   The pitting at the site revealed several refuse-filled hollows from the Iron Age.

   Archaeologists dated the pitting to the early medieval period.

   Similardigging, excavation

   Note

   An archaeologist's word for the digging that comes before the dig proper. Small test pittings are sunk to see what lies beneath before the main excavation begins. The noun is countable as well as uncountable, so the plural pittings is ordinary in this field. Keep it apart from the corrosion sense, which names damage to a surface rather than holes dug on purpose.

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