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PIT
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Irregular inflected forms: pitted , pitting
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A workplace consisting of a coal mine plus all the buildings and equipment connected with it
Synonyms:
colliery; pit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):
work; workplace (a place where work is done)
Meronyms (parts of "pit"):
coal mine; coalpit (a mine where coal is dug from the ground)
mine (excavation in the earth from which ores and minerals are extracted)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lowered area in front of a stage where an orchestra accompanies the performers
Synonyms:
orchestra pit; pit
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...):
house; theater; theatre (a building where theatrical performances or motion-picture shows can be presented)
Sense 3
Meaning:
A surface excavation for extracting stone or slate
Example:
a British term for 'quarry' is 'stone pit'
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
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 4
Meaning:
A trap in the form of a concealed hole
Synonyms:
pit; pitfall
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):
trap (a device in which something (usually an animal) can be caught and penned)
Sense 5
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 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:
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 8
Meaning:
(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment
Example:
Hell is paved with good intentions
Synonyms:
Hell; infernal region; Inferno; nether region; perdition; pit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
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 9
Meaning:
A sizeable hole (usually in the ground)
Example:
they dug a pit to bury the body
Synonyms:
cavity; pit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
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"):
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)
fire pit (a pit whose floor is incandescent lava)
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 10
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
Example:
you should remove the stones from prunes before cooking
Synonyms:
Classified under:
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 11
Meaning:
A concavity in a surface (especially an anatomical depression)
Synonyms:
fossa; pit
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("pit" is a kind of...):
concave shape; concavity; incurvation; incurvature (a shape that curves or bends inward)
bodily cavity; cavity; cavum ((anatomy) a natural hollow or sinus within the body)
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)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they pit ... he / she / it pits
Past simple: pitted
Past participle: pitted
-ing form: pitting
Sense 1
Meaning:
Remove the pits from
Example:
pit plums and cherries
Synonyms:
pit; stone
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
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)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Set into opposition or rivalry
Example:
He plays his two children off against each other
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of fighting, athletic activities
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 3
Meaning:
Mark with a scar
Example:
The skin disease scarred his face permanently
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
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)
Context examples:
And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The receptors are localized in specialized regions called coated pits.
(Low Density Lipoprotein Receptor, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
K. sedentarius is rarely part of the normal flora of the skin and is mostly pathogenic, being the causative agent of pitted keratolysis.
(Kytococcus sedentarius, NCI Thesaurus)
To find out, Williams and Morrison took samples from the main OMT open pit.
(New answer to MRSA, other 'superbug' infections: clay minerals?, NSF)
Presentation of this disorder can range from white streaks to brown stains and cracks or pits in the tooth enamel.
(Dental Fluorosis, NCI Thesaurus)
When exposed to microbially-produced acids, granite tombstones gradually become pitted as bits of rock are dissolved.
(Tales from the crypt: Life after death in a graveyard, National Science Foundation)
The horse may be at the bottom of one of the pits or old mines upon the moor.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He paused, open-mouthed, on the verge of the pit of his own depravity and utter worthlessness to breathe the same air she did.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
A proteolytic enzyme and defibrinogenating agent derived from the venom of the Malayan pit viper, with profibrinolytic and anticoagulant activities.
(Ancrod, NCI Thesaurus)
Under what circumstances would I not avoid the pit of hell?
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
