pit

Etymology 1

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.

noun

1. A hole in the ground.
   The meadow around the town is full of old pits.
2. (motor racing) 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. (music) A section of the marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to march, such as the tam tam. Also, the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
4. A mine.
5. (archaeology) 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, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 68
6. (trading) A trading pit.
7. The bottom part of something.
   I felt pain in the pit of my stomach.
8. (colloquial) Armpit.
9. (aviation) A luggage hold.
10. (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, […]. 2013-07-20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
11. The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
12. The grave, underworld or Hell.
13. An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
14. 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.
15. (gambling) Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
16. (in the plural, with the, slang) Only used in the pits.
    His circus job was the pits, but at least he was in show business.
17. (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.
18. (American football) 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
19. (hospital slang) The emergency department.
20. (UK, military, slang) 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
21. (informal) An undesirable location, especially an unclean one.
    This house is a total pit. We've got to get out of here!
    Get back to the pit, dish bitch!

verb

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. March 22 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Hunger Games
   2017 August 25, Aukkarapon Niyomyat & Panarat Thepgumpanat, "Thai junta seeks Yingluck's arrest as former PM skips court verdict", in reuters.com, Reuters That movement, pitted against a Bangkok-centered royalist and pro-military elite, has been at the heart of years of turmoil.
   2017 August 25, "Arrest threat as Yingluck Shinawatra misses verdict", in aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera Thaksin's ouster triggered years of upheaval and division that has pitted a poor, rural majority in the north that supports the Shinawatras against royalists, the military and their urban backers.
4. (intransitive, motor racing) 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. 13 September 2020, Andrew Benson, “Tuscan Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton claims 90th win after incredible race”, in BBC Sport

Etymology 2

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.

noun

1. A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
2. A shell in a drupe containing a seed.
3. (military) 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: National Academies Press, →DOI, page 15
   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 LA-13577-T, page 248

verb

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.

Etymology 3

Shortening.

noun

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