Word.ws English Dictionary

pit

UK/pɪt/

pit noun: a hole in the ground. Also the abbreviation of dish pit.

pit: a hole in the ground
Image: Thamizhpparithi Maari, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

pit (plural pits)

  1. A hole in the ground.
    • The meadow around the town is full of old pits.
    • 27 Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will returne vpon him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 26:27
  2. An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
    • Two drivers have already gone into the pit this early in the race.
  3. The section of a marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to be marched, such as the tam-tam; the front ensemble. Can also refer to the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
  4. A mine.
  5. A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.
    • The exact sites of Feng and Hao have yet to be verified, but seven pits containing chariots, horses and other Zhou burial objects were discovered at Fengxi, and a concentration of Western Zhou relics and tombs was found in the area of Doumen in Changan County on the east bank of the Feng River.1991 [1987], Zou Zongxu, translated by Susan Whitfield, The Land Within the Passes: A History of Xian, Viking, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68
  6. A trading pit.
  7. (colloquial) An armpit.
  8. A luggage hold.
  9. (countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
    • [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
  10. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
  11. The grave, underworld or Hell.
    • Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • He keepeth back his soul from the pit.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job xxxiii:18
  12. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
    • as fiercely as two game-cocks in the pit1693, [John Locke], “§145”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC
Show 11 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. Formerly, that part of a theatre, 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 theatre.
  2. Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
  3. (in plural, slang) Only used in the pits.
    • His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business.
  4. (slang) A mosh pit.
    • Because the museum was closed for renovation, the school decided to bring its fourth-graders to the pit at a Cannibal Corpse gig instead.
  5. The center of the line.
    • The ball carrier can be with or without a football. For the “Head-On” tackle have the “Ball Carrier” stand right in front of the pit and face the tackler.2007, Bob Swope, Youth Football Drills and Plays Handbook, page 29
    • “They don't call the middle of the line The Pit for nothing. We really do get like animals, trying to claw one another apart in there. It is very hard in The Pit. No matter how it seems, no matter what the score shows, it's always hard. […]2018, Paul Zimmerman, The New Thinking Man's Guide to Professional Football
  6. (slang) The emergency department of a hospital.
  7. In tracheary elements, a section of the cell wall where the secondary wall is missing, and the primary wall is present. Pits generally occur in pairs and link two cells.
  8. (slang, Antarctica and UK) A bed.
    • Many Bacardi & Cokes later I climbed up into my pit and fell into a deep sleep, and woke up at one thirty in the morning and threw up my tea.2009, Julian Beirne, Diary of a Sapper, page 55
  9. (informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
    • This house is a total pit. We've got to do some cleaning!
  10. (figuratively) A bleak, depressing state of mind.
    • He was in a pit of despair.
  11. On a compact disc or similar recording medium, a tiny sunken area representing part of the encoded data.
    Antonyms:
    land

Verb (1)

pit (third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

  1. (transitive) To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.
    • Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal.
  2. (transitive) To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.
  3. (transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
    • Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?
    • For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Hunger Games
  4. (intransitive) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
    • Bottas had to pit earlier than expected for fresh tyres. Hamilton followed him in next time around and the two drivers were instructed to stay off the kerbs to protect their tyres.2020 September 13, Andrew Benson, “Tuscan Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton claims 90th win after incredible race”, in BBC Sport

Noun (2)

pit (plural pits)

  1. (Northern-US) A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
    • Near-synonym: pip
  2. The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
    • [...] weapons "pits" (the plutonium components of nuclear weapons, named by analogy with the pit of a fruit such as a peach), [...].1996, “2 Background”, in :w:National Research Council (United States), editor, An Evaluation of the Electrometallurgical Approach for Treatment of Excess Weapons Plutonium, Washington DC, USA...
    • The Nagasaki-type [bomb] [...] had a wider range of yield potential depending on the kind of fissile core and tamper assembly, or "pit," used in it.1999, Anne C Fitzpatrick, Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952, Los Alamos, NM (United States): Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), →DOI, Thesis...

Verb (2)

pit (third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

  1. (transitive) To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.
    • One must pit a peach to make it ready for a pie.

Noun (3)

pit (plural pits)

  1. (informal) A pit bull terrier.
    • I resolved to find all my pits good homes and to get out of the rescue and breeding business.2012, Shorty Rossi, Four Feet Tall and Rising, page 186

Verb (3)

pit (third-person singular simple present pits, present participle pitting, simple past and past participle pitted)

  1. To use the PIT maneuver, especially during a car chase.

Proper noun capitalized: PIT

PIT

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Pittsburgh.

Noun (4) capitalized: PIT

PIT (countable and uncountable, plural PITs)

  1. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of personal income tax.
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of programmable interval timer.
  3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of precision immobilization technique: a method for ending car chases by causing a controlled collision, forcing the pursued car into a spin.
  4. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of pursuit intervention technique: the same method for ending car chases.
  5. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of parallel immobilization technique: the same method for ending car chases.

Also used as

pit is also the abbreviation of dish pit.

pit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pit in Hindi

hole in the ground
गडडा gaḍḍā

pit in Tamil

குழி

pit in Marathi

hole in the ground
खड्डा khaḍḍā

pit in Urdu

گڑھا
More languagesFewer languages
pit in Telugu
గొయ్యి goyyi
pit in Malayalam
കുഴി kuḻi
pit in Punjabi
ਪਿੱਟ, ਟੋਆ, ਖੱਡਾ
pit in Gujarati
ખાડો
pit in Odia
ଗାଡ gāḍa
pit in Tagalog
hukay, lubak
pit in Arabic
حُفْرَة ḥufra
pit in Indonesian
lubang
pit in Persian
گودال gowdâl, چاله čâle, چال čâl
pit in Thai
หลุม lǔm, บ่อ bɔ̀ɔ
pit in Vietnamese
hố

Examples of pit in a sentence

  • The trumpets were assigned to stand at the rear of the orchestra pit.
  • The pit floor showed where a ring of post holes had been.
  • I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

All 40 example sentences with pit

Synonyms of pit

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of pit

Forms of pit

Noun
pluralpits
pluralPITs
Verb
third-person singular presentpits
present participlepitting
past participlepitted
pastpitted
Proper noun
alternative formPITT
alternative formPitt.
alternative formPit.

Past tense of pit: pitted

Plural of pit: pits

Origin of pit

From Middle English pit, pet, püt, from Old English pytt, from Proto-West Germanic *puti, from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well”), although there are phonetic difficulties.

From Dutch pit (“kernel, core”), from Middle Dutch pitte, from Proto-Germanic *pittan (compare dialectal German Pfitze (“pimple”)), oblique of Proto-Germanic *piþō. Compare pith.

Shortening.

Words formed from pit

Phrases with pit

77 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with pit

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pit

What does pit mean?
Pit means a hole in the ground.
What is pit in Hindi?
Pit in Hindi is गडडा (gaḍḍā). See Pit meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is pit?
Pit can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pit?
Pit is pronounced /pɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of pit?
The plural of pit is pits.

Words near pit in the dictionary

  1. pistou
  2. pisupo
  3. Pisz
  4. pisé
  5. pisés
  6. pit
  7. pit adder
  8. pit adders
  9. pit against
  10. pit babe
  11. pit babes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pit (page history and authors); PIT (page history and authors); pit (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pit (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pit (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pit (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-pit.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.