pit : Idioms & Phrases

• noun American breed of muscular terriers with a short close-lying stiff coat
  American pit bull terrier; American Staffordshire terrier; Staffordshire terrier.
  

WordNet

• noun a pit where wood or charcoal is burned to make a bed of hot coals suitable for barbecuing meat
  

WordNet

• a pit filled with bark and water, in which hides are steeped in tanning.

Webster 1913

• noun a pit created to provide earth that can be used as fill at another site
  

WordNet

• a salt spring or well, from which water is taken to be boiled or evaporated for making salt.

Webster 1913

• noun a quarry for chalk
  chalkpit.
  

WordNet

• a pit in which chalk is dug.

Webster 1913

• . (a) A child's play, in which cherries are thrown into a hole. Shak. (b) A cherry stone.

Webster 1913

• a pit where clay is dug.

Webster 1913

• (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.

Webster 1913

• noun a pit whose floor is incandescent lava
  
  • the fire pit of the crater

WordNet

• a plant bed having an under layer of fermenting manure, the fermentation yielding bottom heat for forcing plants; a hotbed.

Webster 1913

• noun a quarry for gravel
  

WordNet

• a limestone quarry.

Webster 1913

• noun lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers
  pit.
  

WordNet

• noun the stone seed of a peach
  

WordNet

• noun American breed of muscular terriers with a short close-lying stiff coat
  American pit bull terrier; American Staffordshire terrier; Staffordshire terrier.
  

WordNet

• coal dug from the earth; mineral coal.

Webster 1913

• the framework over the shaft of a coal mine.

Webster 1913

• the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit or mine.

Webster 1913

• an oven for coking coal.

Webster 1913

• (Zoöl.), the bank swallow. Prov. Eng.

Webster 1913

• noun a slight depression in the midline just below the sternum (where a blow can affect the solar plexus)
  epigastric fossa.
  

WordNet

• (Anat.), the depression on the middle line of the epigastric region of the abdomen at the lower end of the sternum; the infrasternal depression.

Webster 1913

• noun gravel as found in natural deposits
  pit run; bank gravel.
  

WordNet

• (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.

Webster 1913

• noun a stop during an automobile trip for rest and refreshment
  
• noun a brief stop at a pit during an automobile race to take on fuel or service the car
  

WordNet

• noun New World vipers with hollow fangs and a heat-sensitive pit on each side of the head
  

WordNet

• (Zoöl.), any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples.

Webster 1913

• adverb as of footsteps
  pitter-patter; pitty-pat; pitty-patty.
  
  • he came running pit-a-pat down the hall
• adverb describing a rhythmic beating
  pitter-patter; pitty-pat; pitty-patty.
  
  • his heart went pit-a-pat

WordNet

Pit"-hole` noun

Definitions

1. A pit; a pockmark.

Webster 1913

• noun gravel as found in natural deposits
  pit run; bank gravel.
  

WordNet

• noun a steel or beryllium sphere containing plutonium 239 that triggers nuclear fission when compressed by explosives
  plutonium trigger.
  

WordNet

Pock"-pit`ted adjective

Definitions

1. Pockmarked; pitted.

Webster 1913

• an inclosed space into which rats are put to be killed by a dog for sport.

Webster 1913

• (Mil.), a trench for sheltering sharpshooters.

Webster 1913

• a pit where salt is obtained or made.

Webster 1913

• a pit over which timbor is sawed by two men, one standing below the timber and the other above. Mortimer.

Webster 1913

• a pit for the collection of slime or bitumen.

Webster 1913

• noun any place of pain and turmoil;
  hellhole; snake pit; hell on earth; hell; inferno.
  
  • the hell of battle
  • the inferno of the engine room
  • when you're alone Christmas is the pits
• noun pejorative terms for an insane asylum
  crazy house; cuckoo's nest; Bedlam; loony bin; booby hatch; madhouse; nuthouse; funny farm; sanatorium; nut house; funny house.
  

WordNet

• noun a surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
  pit; quarry.
  
  • a British term for `quarry' is `stone pit'

WordNet

• a quarry where stones are dug.

Webster 1913

• noun a natural accumulation of bitumens at the surface of the earth; often acts as a trap for animals whose bones are thus preserved
  

WordNet

• noun any place of pain and turmoil;
  hellhole; snake pit; hell on earth; hell; inferno.
  
  • the hell of battle
  • the inferno of the engine room
  • when you're alone Christmas is the pits

WordNet

• a pit or shaft sunk from the top of the ground to the level of a tunnel, for drawing up the earth and stones, for ventilation, lighting, and the like.

Webster 1913

• (Steam Engine), a pit in the ground, in which the lower part of the fly wheel runs.

Webster 1913

• a tank or a pit where cloth in the process of dyeing or manufacture is washed, dipped in a mordant, or the like.

Webster 1913

• (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.

Webster 1913