PIT (pitted, pitting)

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does pit mean? 

• PIT (noun)
  The noun PIT has 11 senses:

1. a sizeable hole (usually in the ground)

2. a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)

3. the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed

4. (Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment

5. an enclosure in which animals are made to fight

6. (commodity exchange) the part of the floor of a commodity exchange where trading in a particular commodity is carried on

7. (auto racing) an area at the side of a racetrack where the race cars are serviced and refueled

8. a trap in the form of a concealed hole

9. a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate

10. lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers

11. a workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it

  Familiarity information: PIT used as a noun is familiar.

• PIT (verb)
  The verb PIT has 3 senses:

1. set into opposition or rivalry

2. mark with a scar

3. remove the pits from

  Familiarity information: PIT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sizeable hole (usually in the ground)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

cavity; pit

Context example:

they dug a pit to bury the body

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

hole; hollow (a depression hollowed out of solid matter)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

fire pit (a pit whose floor is incandescent lava)

tar pit (a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved)

sawpit (a pit over which lumber is positioned to be sawed by two men with a long two-handed saw)

sandpit (a large pit in sandy ground from which sand is dug)

quicksand (a pit filled with loose wet sand into which objects are sucked down)

divot ((golf) the cavity left when a piece of turf is cut from the ground by the club head in making a stroke)

borrow pit (a pit created to provide earth that can be used as fill at another site)

barbecue pit (a pit where wood or charcoal is burned to make a bed of hot coals suitable for barbecuing meat)

trou-de-loup (a sloping pit with a stake in the middle used as an obstacle to the enemy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Synonyms:

fossa; pit

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

bodily cavity; cavity; cavum ((anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body)

concave shape; concavity; incurvation; incurvature (a shape that curves or bends inward)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

glenoid cavity; glenoid fossa (the concavity in the head of the scapula that receives the head of the humerus to form the shoulder joint)

glenoid fossa; mandibular fossa (a deep concavity in the temporal bone at the root of the zygomatic arch that receives the condyle of the mandible)

epigastric fossa; pit of the stomach (a slight depression in the midline just below the sternum (where a blow can affect the solar plexus))

Derivation:

pit (mark with a scar)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

endocarp; pit; stone

Context example:

you should remove the stones from prunes before cooking

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

pericarp; seed vessel (the ripened and variously modified walls of a plant ovary)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

peach pit (the stone seed of a peach)

cherry stone (the stone seed of a cherry)

Derivation:

pit (remove the pits from)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

Hell; infernal region; Inferno; nether region; perdition; pit

Context example:

Hell is paved with good intentions

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

fictitious place; imaginary place; mythical place (a place that exists only in imagination; a place said to exist in fictional or religious writings)

Domain category:

Christian religion; Christianity (a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

Gehenna; Tartarus (a place where the wicked are punished after death)

hellfire; red region (a place of eternal fire envisaged as punishment for the damned)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An enclosure in which animals are made to fight

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

enclosure (a structure consisting of an area that has been enclosed for some purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

cockpit (a pit for cockfights)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(commodity exchange) the part of the floor of a commodity exchange where trading in a particular commodity is carried on

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

area (a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function)

Holonyms ("pit" is a part of...):

commodities exchange; commodities market; commodity exchange (an exchange for buying and selling commodities for future delivery)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(auto racing) an area at the side of a racetrack where the race cars are serviced and refueled

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

area (a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function)

Domain category:

auto racing; car racing (the sport of racing automobiles)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A trap in the form of a concealed hole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pit; pitfall

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A surface excavation for extracting stone or slate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pit; quarry; stone pit

Context example:

a British term for 'quarry' is 'stone pit'

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pit"):

chalk pit; chalkpit (a quarry for chalk)

gravel pit (a quarry for gravel)

Sense 10

Meaning:

Lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

orchestra pit; pit

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

area (a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function)

Holonyms ("pit" is a part of...):

house; theater; theatre (a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented)

Sense 11

Meaning:

A workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

colliery; pit

Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):

work; workplace (a place where work is done)

Meronyms (parts of "pit"):

mine (excavation in the earth from which ores and minerals are extracted)

coal mine; coalpit (a mine where coal is dug from the ground)

• PIT (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Set into opposition or rivalry

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

match; oppose; pit; play off

Context example:

He plays his two children off against each other

Hypernyms (to "pit" is one way to...):

confront; face (oppose, as in hostility or a competition)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mark with a scar

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

mark; pit; pock; scar

Context example:

The skin disease scarred his face permanently

Hypernyms (to "pit" is one way to...):

blemish; deface; disfigure (mar or spoil the appearance of)

"Pit" entails doing...:

incise (make an incision into by carving or cutting)

Verb group:

mark; nock; score (make small marks into the surface of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "pit"):

pockmark (mark with or as if with pockmarks)

cicatrise; cicatrize (form a scar, after an injury)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

pit (a concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression))

pitting (the formation of small pits in a surface as a consequence of corrosion)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Remove the pits from

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

pit; stone

Context example:

pit plums and cherries

Hypernyms (to "pit" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pit (the hard inner (usually woody) layer of the pericarp of some fruits (as peaches or plums or cherries or olives) that contains the seed)

 Context examples 

In addition, pit chains lack raised rims, whereas there is usually a rim around secondary craters.

(Dawn Explores Ceres' Interior Evolution, NASA)

Well, there we stood, two on one side, five on the other, the pit between us, and nobody screwed up high enough to offer the first blow.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She walked among 'em with my child, minding only her; and brought her safe out, in the dead of the night, from that black pit of ruin!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At the same moment, as though I had been struck myself, I felt a sickening shock in the pit of my stomach.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

A type of surgery used to make the skin smooth and to improve the way deep scars, pits, and wrinkles look.

(Dermabrasion, NCI Dictionary)

The remains of the two infants were found in a pit directly below a hearth where the 2010 remains were uncovered. (NSF)

(Archaeologists discover remains of Ice-Age infants in Alaska, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

With their flashing teeth, their bristling hair, their mad leapings and screamings, they seemed to Alleyne more like fiends from the pit than men of flesh and blood.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Receptor sequestration reflects the dynamin (Dyn)-dependent endocytosis of GPCRs via clathrin-coated pits.

(GPCR Desensitization Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

He stood easily, with one thumb in the arm-pit, and two fingers of the other hand in his vest pocket.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Up above me there was a circle of starlit sky, which showed me that I was lying at the bottom of a deep pit.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)