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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tumble me into some loathsome pit. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades. [ 1913 Webster ]

Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He keepth back his soul from the pit. Job xxxiii. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively. [ 1913 Webster ]

The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits. Lam. iv. 20. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 (Zool.), 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 stop, See pit stop in the vocabulary. --
Pit viper (Zool.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]