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Entry 10 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Pit

/pĭt/ · IPA /pɪt/
01 n. A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
  1. 1.
    A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation
    “Tumble me into some loathsome pit.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
    “Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.” — Milton.
    “He keepth back his soul from the pit.” — Job xxxiii. 18.
  3. 3.
    A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
    “The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.” — Lam. iv. 20.
  4. 4.
    A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body
  5. 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.
  6. 6.
    An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
  7. 7.
    The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc.(Bot.)
Phrases & compounds
Cold pit — 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 — the bank swallow.
Pit of the stomach — 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 — 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 — any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples.
Working pit — a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.
02 v. t. To place or put into a pit or hole.
imp. & p. p. Pitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Pitting
  1. 1.
    To place or put into a pit or hole.
    “They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts, tumbled into the grave.” — T. Grander.
  2. 2.
    To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a face pitted by smallpox.
  3. 3.
    To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.