Word: pit Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *puti Old English pytt Middle English pit English 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. Pronunciation: /pɪt/, [pʰɪʔt] 1. A hole in the ground. Example: The meadow around the town is full of old pits. Example: 27 Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will returne vpon him. 2. An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race. Example: 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. Example: 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. 6. A trading pit. 7. An armpit. Labels: colloquial 8. A luggage hold. 9. A small surface hole or depression, a fossa. Labels: countable Example: [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, […]. 10. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox. 11. The grave, underworld or Hell. Example: Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained. Example: He keepeth back his soul from the pit. 12. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats. Example: as fiercely as two game-cocks in the pit 13. 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. 14. Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games. 15. Only used in the pits. Labels: in-plural, slang Example: His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business. 16. A mosh pit. Labels: slang Example: Because the museum was closed for renovation, the school decided to bring its fourth-graders to the pit at a Cannibal Corpse gig instead. 17. The center of the line. Example: 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. Example: “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. […] 18. The emergency department of a hospital. Labels: slang 19. 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. 20. A bed. Labels: slang Example: 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. 21. An undesirable location, especially an unclean one. Labels: informal Example: This house is a total pit. We've got to do some cleaning! 22. A bleak, depressing state of mind. Labels: figuratively Example: He was in a pit of despair. 23. Short for dish pit Labels: abbreviation, alt-of Example: Get back to the pit, dish bitch! Example: The plot takes us through the "sleaze pits", the lower West Side leather bars, which Travis notes with undue repulsion. 24. On a compact disc or similar recording medium, a tiny sunken area representing part of the encoded data.