pit
pronunciation
How to pronounce pit in British English:
UK [pɪt]
How to pronounce pit in American English:
US [pɪt]
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- Noun:
- a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)
- a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
- the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed
- a trap in the form of a concealed hole
- a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
- lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers
- a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it
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- Verb:
- set into opposition or rivalry
- mark with a scar
- remove the pits from
Word Origin
- pit
- pit: English has two words pit. The older, ‘hole’ [OE], comes ultimately from Latin puteus ‘pit, well’ (source also of French puits ‘well, shaft’), but reached English via a Germanic route. It was borrowed in prehistoric times into West Germanic as *putti, which has evolved into German pfütze ‘pool’, Dutch put ‘pit’, and English pit. Pit ‘fruit-stone’ [19] may have been borrowed from Dutch pit, which goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic *pithan, source of English pith [OE].=> pith
- pit (n.1)
- "hole, cavity," Old English pytt "water hole, well; pit, grave," from Proto-Germanic *puttjaz "pool, puddle" (cognates: Old Frisian pet, Old Saxon putti, Old Norse pyttr, Middle Dutch putte, Dutch put, Old High German pfuzza, German Pfütze "pool, puddle"), early borrowing from Latin puteus "well, pit, shaft." Meaning "abode of evil spirits, hell" is attested from early 13c. Pit of the stomach (1650s) is from the slight depression there between the ribs.
- pit (v.)
- mid-15c., "to put into a pit," from pit (n.1); especially for purposes of fighting (of cocks, dogs, pugilists) from 1760. Figurative sense of "to set in rivalry" is from 1754. Meaning "to make pits in" is from late 15c. Related: Pitted; pitting. Compare Pit-bull as a dog breed attested from 1922, short for pit-bull terrier (by 1912). This also is the notion behind the meaning "the part of a theater on the floor of the house" (1640s).
- pit (n.2)
- "hard seed," 1841, from Dutch pit "kernel, seed, marrow," from Middle Dutch pitte, ultimately from West Germanic *pithan-, source of pith (q.v.).
Example
- 1. She stops and peers into the pit .
- 2. Where oil sands are close to the surface , they are extracted in large open pit mines .
- 3. An estimated 4000 cubic meters of water was in the mining pit , he said .
- 4. Slots pit humans against maths , and the maths always win .
- 5. By the time the pit is deep enough , the sun has long been burning above rahul .