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 ]

‖n. [ Sp. ] (Bot.) (a) A fiber obtained from the Agave Americana and other related species, -- used for making cordage and paper. Called also pita fiber, and pita thread. (b) The plant which yields the fiber. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ n. [ Sp. ] A thin flat bread that is formed in two layers, to make a pocket into which other foods may be placed. [ PJC ]

n. [ Sp., prob. from the native name. ] (Bot.) A cactaceous shrub (Cereus Pitajaya) of tropical America, which yields a delicious fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ An onomatopoetic reduplication of pat a light, quick blow. ] In a flutter; with palpitation or quick succession of beats. Lowell. “The fox's heart went pitapat.” L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A light, repeated sound; a pattering, as of the rain. “The pitapat of a pretty foot.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OE. picchen; akin to E. pick, pike. ] 1. To throw, generally with a definite aim or purpose; to cast; to hurl; to toss; as, to pitch quoits; to pitch hay; to pitch a ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To thrust or plant in the ground, as stakes or poles; hence, to fix firmly, as by means of poles; to establish; to arrange; as, to pitch a tent; to pitch a camp. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To set, face, or pave with rubble or undressed stones, as an embankment or a roadway. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To fix or set the tone of; as, to pitch a tune. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To set or fix, as a price or value. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pitched battle, a general battle; a battle in which the hostile forces have fixed positions; -- in distinction from a skirmish. --
To pitch into, to attack; to assault; to abuse. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand; as, a good pitch in quoits. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pitch and toss, a game played by tossing up a coin, and calling “Heads or tails;” hence:
To play pitch and toss with (anything), to be careless or trust to luck about it. “To play pitch and toss with the property of the country.” G. Eliot. --
Pitch farthing. See Chuck farthing, under 5th Chuck. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound. [ 1913 Webster ]

Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down
Into this deep. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Enterprises of great pitch and moment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To lowest pitch of abject fortune. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

He lived when learning was at its highest pitch. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

The exact pitch, or limits, where temperance ends. Sharp. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Height; stature. [ Obs. ] Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant; as, a steep pitch in the road; the pitch of a roof. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mus.) The relative acuteness or gravity of a tone, determined by the number of vibrations which produce it; the place of any tone upon a scale of high and low. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Musical tones with reference to absolute pitch, are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet; with reference to relative pitch, in a series of tones called the scale, they are called one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight is also one of a new scale an octave higher, as one is eight of a scale an octave lower. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Mech.) (a) The distance from center to center of any two adjacent teeth of gearing, measured on the pitch line; -- called also circular pitch. (b) The length, measured along the axis, of a complete turn of the thread of a screw, or of the helical lines of the blades of a screw propeller. (c) The distance between the centers of holes, as of rivet holes in boiler plates. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Elec.) The distance between symmetrically arranged or corresponding parts of an armature, measured along a line, called the pitch line, drawn around its length. Sometimes half of this distance is called the pitch.

Concert pitch (Mus.), the standard of pitch used by orchestras, as in concerts, etc. --
Diametral pitch (Gearing), the distance which bears the same relation to the pitch proper, or circular pitch, that the diameter of a circle bears to its circumference; it is sometimes described by the number expressing the quotient obtained by dividing the number of teeth in a wheel by the diameter of its pitch circle in inches; as, 4 pitch, 8 pitch, etc. --
Pitch chain, a chain, as one made of metallic plates, adapted for working with a sprocket wheel. --
Pitch line, or
Pitch circle (Gearing), an ideal line, in a toothed gear or rack, bearing such a relation to a corresponding line in another gear, with which the former works, that the two lines will have a common velocity as in rolling contact; it usually cuts the teeth at about the middle of their height, and, in a circular gear, is a circle concentric with the axis of the gear; the line, or circle, on which the pitch of teeth is measured. --
Pitch of a roof (Arch.), the inclination or slope of the sides expressed by the height in parts of the span; as, one half pitch; whole pitch; or by the height in parts of the half span, especially among engineers; or by degrees, as a pitch of 30°, of 45°, etc.; or by the rise and run, that is, the ratio of the height to the half span; as, a pitch of six rise to ten run. Equilateral pitch is where the two sloping sides with the span form an equilateral triangle. --
Pitch of a plane (Carp.), the slant of the cutting iron. --
Pitch of poles (Elec.), the distance between a pair of poles of opposite sign. --
Pitch pipe, a wind instrument used by choristers in regulating the pitch of a tune. --
Pitch point (Gearing), the point of contact of the pitch lines of two gears, or of a rack and pinion, which work together. [ 1913 Webster ]