Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Pit \Pit\, n. [OE. pit, put, AS. pytt a pit, hole, L. puteus a
   well, pit.]
   1. A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or
      artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an
      indentation; specifically:
      (a) The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit.
      (b) A large hole in the ground from which material is dug
          or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in
          which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a
          charcoal pit.
      (c) A vat sunk in the ground; as, a tan pit.

                Tumble me into some loathsome pit. --Shak.

   2. Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.

            Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
                                                  --Milton.

            He keepth back his soul from the pit. --Job xxxiii.
                                                  18.

   3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall;
      hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.

            The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits.
                                                  --Lam. iv. 20.

   4. A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body;
      as:
      (a) The hollow place under the shoulder or arm; the
          axilla, or armpit.
      (b) See {Pit of the stomach} (below).
      (c) The indentation or mark left by a pustule, as in
          smallpox.

   5. Formerly, that part of a theater, on the floor of the
      house, below the level of the stage and behind the
      orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the
      stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the
      occupants of such a part of a theater.

   6. An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other
      animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to
      kill rats. ``As fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit.''
      --Locke.

   7. [Cf. D. pit, akin to E. pith.] (Bot.)
      (a) The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or
          seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc.
      (b) A depression or thin spot in the wall of a duct.

   {Cold pit} (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.

   {Pit coal}, coal dug from the earth; mineral coal.

   {Pit frame}, the framework over the shaft of a coal mine.

   {Pit head}, the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit
      or mine.

   {Pit kiln}, an oven for coking coal.

   {Pit martin} (Zo["o]l.), the bank swallow. [Prov. Eng.]

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

   {Pit saw} (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.

   {Pit viper} (Zo["o]l.), any viperine snake having a deep pit
      on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead
      are examples.

   {Working pit} (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and
      the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used
      for the pumps.