Pit \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]
|
