Pit \Pit\, n. [OE. pit, put, AS. pytt a pit, hole, L. puteus a
well, pit.]
1. A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or
artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an
indentation; specifically:
(a) The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit.
(b) A large hole in the ground from which material is dug
or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in
which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a
charcoal pit.
(c) A vat sunk in the ground; as, a tan pit.
Tumble me into some loathsome pit. --Shak.
2. Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
--Milton.
He keepth back his soul from the pit. --Job xxxiii.
18.
3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall;
hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.
--Lam. iv. 20.
4. A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body;
as:
(a) The hollow place under the shoulder or arm; the
axilla, or armpit.
(b) See Pit of the stomach (below).
(c) The indentation or mark left by a pustule, as in
smallpox.
5. Formerly, that part of a theater, on the floor of the
house, below the level of the stage and behind the
orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the
stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the
occupants of such a part of a theater.
6. An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other
animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to
kill rats. ``As fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit.''
--Locke.
7. [Cf. D. pit, akin to E. pith.]
(Bot.)
(a) The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or
seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc.
(b) A depression or thin spot in the wall of a duct.
Cold pit (Hort.), an excavation in the earth, lined with
masonry or boards, and covered with glass, but not
artificially heated, -- used in winter for the storing and
protection of half-hardly plants, and sometimes in the
spring as a forcing bed.
Pit coal, coal dug from the earth; mineral coal.
Pit frame, the framework over the shaft of a coal mine.
Pit head, the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit
or mine.
Pit kiln, an oven for coking coal.
Pit martin (Zo["o]l.), the bank swallow. [Prov. Eng.]
Pit of the stomach (Anat.), the depression on the middle
line of the epigastric region of the abdomen at the lower
end of the sternum; the infrasternal depression.
Pit saw (Mech.), a saw worked by two men, one of whom
stands on the log and the other beneath it. The place of
the latter is often in a pit, whence the name.
Pit viper (Zo["o]l.), any viperine snake having a deep pit
on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead
are examples.
Working pit (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and
the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used
for the pumps.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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