Pit Definition

pĭt

pits, pitted, pitting

noun

pits

A hole or cavity in the ground.

Webster's New World

An abyss.

Webster's New World

A covered hole used to trap wild animals; pitfall.

Webster's New World

A small indentation in a surface.

Pits in a windshield.

American Heritage

The shaft of a coal mine.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

verb

pits, pitted, pitting

To remove the pit from (a fruit)

Webster's New World

To become marked with pits.

Webster's New World

To mark with small scars.

Pitted by smallpox.

Webster's New World

To put, cast, or store in a pit.

Webster's New World

To make pits in.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

idiom

the pits

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Pit

Singular:

pit

Plural:

pits

From Middle English, from Old English pytt (“pit, hole in the ground, well, grave, pustule, pockmark"), from Proto-Germanic *putjaz (“pit, well"), from Latin puteus (“trench, pit, well"), from Proto-Indo-European *pewǝ- (“to beat, hew"). Cognate with West Frisian pet (“pit"), Eastern Frisian put (“pit"), Dutch put (“well, pockmark"), German Pfütze (“puddle, pool"), Danish pyt (“pit"), Icelandic pytt (“pit").

From Wiktionary
From Dutch pit (“kernel, core"), from Middle Dutch pitte, from Proto-Germanic *pittan (compare Middle Franconian Pfitze (“pimple")), oblique of *piþō. Compare pith.

From Wiktionary
Middle English from Old English pytt ultimately from Latin puteus well pau-² in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Dutch from Middle Dutch

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition