See Also: Lamb, Charles(encyclopedia)
Lamb, Charles(dictionary)
Lamb rack and pan-fried lamb patties flavoured with rose petals(recipes)
Navarin of Lamb and Lamb' s Tongues(recipes)
Lamb(medicine)
Lamb of God, the(dictionary)
in-lamb(dictionary)
lamb(1)(dictionary)
lamb(2)(dictionary)
lamb(encyclopedia)

pit(1) (iou) and Lamb, Charles (oh)


pit(1) (iou)



pit noun1.
[Old English pytt (whence Old Norse pyttr) = Old Frisian pelt, Old Saxon putti (Middle Dutch pulte, Dutch put), Old High German pfuzzi (German Pfutze pool, puddle), from West Germanic.]
I.
A usu. large or deep hole or cavity in the ground, made by digging or natural occurring or produced. OE.
Bible (AV): Jeremiah 2:6 A land of deserts and of pittes. J. Reed We looked down into two massive pits, ten or fifteen feet deep. fig.: C. Angier Jean was in a deep pit of depression.
A hole or excavation made in digging for a mineral deposit or for use in a particular (esp. industrial) process (freq. with specifying word); spec. a coal-pit, (the shaft of) a coalmine. OE.
chalk-pit, coal-pit, gravel-pit, etc. saw-pit, tan-pit, etc.
Disraeli He had never been down a pit in all his life.
A hole dug or sunk in the ground for water; a well, a water-hole; a pond, a pool. Long obsolete exc. as passing into sense 1. OE.
Bible (AV): Leviticus 11:36 A fountaine or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shalbe cleane.
A hole dug in the ground for a dead body; a grave. Now chiefly arch. & dial. ME.
Shakespeare Richard II And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit. Spectator The bodies were thrown into an unmarked pit below the gallows.
A covered or concealed excavation serving as a trap for a wild animal or (esp. in biblical allusions) for an enemy; a pitfall. Freq. fig. ME.
Bible (AV): Psalms 57:6 They haue digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Beano Dig a pit and animals will fall into it!
A deep hole for the confinement of prisoners, a dungeon. obsolete exc. Hist. ME.
Sir W. Scott Look for the key of our pit, or principal dungeon.
The abode of evil spirits and lost souls; hell. Freq. in the pit of hell. ME.
Bunyan The Hobgoblins, Satyrs, and Dragons of the Pit. B. Stoker They are devils of the Pit!
A hole or excavation made for the storage and protection of roots, Vegetables, etc. Also, a sunken area (usu. covered with a glazed frame) where young or tender plants are grown without artificial heat. L15.
A sunken area in a workshop floor giving access to the underside of a motor vehicle. Also, an area at the side of a motor-racing track where racing-cars are serviced and refuelled, esp. during a race (freq. in pl.). M19.
M. Gilbert He climbed out of the pit..and said..'You've come to buy a car.' Kart & Superkart Terry's motor began to misfire..and he pulled into the pits.
II.
A natural hollow or indentation in an animal or plant body or in any surface. ME.
H. McMurtrie A little round indentation or pit behind each nostril.
b. An armpit. slang. M20.
Rolling Stone Simmons answers by spraying his pits with a can of Royal Copenhagen.
A small indentation left on the skin after smallpox, acne, etc.; a similar minute depression or spot on a surface resembling this. L17.
London Gazette A short thick man..some few pits of the Small Pox. T. Hooper The surface of the royal jelly will be covered in tiny pits.
A pocket in a garment. slang. E19.
Botany. A cavity or discontinuity in a secondary cell wall where the primary wall is not covered by the secondary wall. M19.
A bed, a bunk. slang (orig. Military). M20.
III.
An enclosure in which an animal (esp. a cock or a dog) may be set to fight against another for sport; esp. = COCKPIT 1. Also, a sunken enclosure in which animals of a particular kind are kept (freq. with specifying word). M16.
bear-pit, cock-pit, lion-pit, snake-pit, etc.
That part of the auditorium of a theatre on the floor of the house, esp. the part behind the stalls; the people occupying this area (cf. COCKPIT 3). M17.
W. S. Maugham Declaiming the blank verse of Sheridan Knowles with an emphasis to rouse the pit to frenzy. N. Streatfeild In the pit, Cook and Clare enjoyed themselves enormously.
b. = orchestra pit s.v. ORCHESTRA 3. M20.
A part of the floor of an exchange allotted to special trading. (Freq. with specifying word.) N. Amer. E20.
grain-pit, wheat-pit, etc.
Phrases: bordered pit Botany: in which the pit cavity is overarched by an extension of the secondary cell wall. pit and gallows, gallows and pit Scots Law (obsolete exc. Hist.) the privilege, formerly conferred on barons, of executing male thieves or Other felons by hanging on a gallows and female thieves or Other felons by drowning in a pond or pool. pit of the stomach (a) the bottom or floor of the stomach; (b) the depression below the bottom of the breastbone. the BOTTOMLESS pit. the pits (slang, orig. US) the worst or most despicable example of something; esp. a particularly obnoxious or contemptible person.
Comb.: pit aperture Botany an opening on the inner surface of a secondary cell wall, forming the entrance to a pit cavity; pit-bank the raised ground or platforms at the surface of a coalmine on which the coals are sorted and screened; pit-bing (chiefly Scot.) a heap of waste from a pit or mine; pit boss US slang an employee in a Casino in charge of gaming-tables; pit-bottom the bottom of a pit; spec. the bottom of the shaft in a coalmine or the adjacent part of the mine; pit-bottomer a collier employed at the pit-bottom; pit-brow the edge of a pit; spec. = pit-bank above; pit bull terrier (a dog of) an American variety of bull terrier, usu. fawn or brindled with white markings; pit canal Botany a channel in the secondary cell wall of a bordered pit, leading to the pit cavity; pit cavity Botany the space within a simple pit, extending from the primary cell wall to the aperture bordering the cell lumen; pit-coal (now arch. rare) coal obtained from a pit or mine; pit-comb adjective (Archaeology) designating pottery decorated with rows of indentations and patterns like the impression of a comb; pit dog = pit bull terrier above; pit-head the top of a pit or shaft in a coalmine; the area immediately surrounding this; pit-headman a workman employed at a pit-head; pit-heap a heap of excavated material near the mouth of a pit or shaft in a coalmine; the whole of the surface works of a coalmine; pit-hole a hole forming a pit; spec. a grave; pit-lamp noun (chiefly Canad.) a miner's lamp; transf. a lamp used in hunting or fishing at night, = jack-light s.v. JACK noun1; pit-lamp verb trans. & intrans. (Canad.) hunt (deer etc.) using a pit-lamp; pit membrane Botany the part of a primary cell wall dividing the two pits of a pit pair; pit-mirk adjective (Scot. & north.) as dark as a pit, pitch-dark; pit organ a sensory receptor sensitive to changes in temperature, present in a small depression in front of each eye of a pit viper; pit pair Botany a pair of pits in adjacent cell walls, sharing the same pit membrane; pit-planting a method of planting trees in which a hole is dug, and the roots settled over a mound of earth in the bottom of the hole before it is refilled; the planting of trees in small depressions in order to conserve moisture; pit pony Hist. a pony kept underground for haulage in a coalmine; pit-prop a baulk of wood used to support the roof of a mine; pit-saw noun & verb (a) noun a large saw for cutting timber, working in a saw-pit, with handles at the top and bottom; (b) verb trans. & intrans. cut (timber) with a pit-saw; pit-sawn adjective (of timber) cut with a pit-saw; pit-sawyer the person standing in a saw-pit and working the lower handle of a pit-saw (opp. top-sawyer); pit silage silage made in a pit silo; pit silo a silo in the form of a pit instead of a tower; pit stop in motor racing, a stop at a pit for servicing and refuelling, esp. during a race; pit tip a mass of waste material deposited near the mouth of a pit or coalmine; pit viper: see VIPER 1b; pit-wood timber used for frames, props, etc., in a coalmine.
pitless adjective (rare) L19.

Lamb, Charles (oh)



(1775-1834) a British writer of essays, who worked with his sister Mary Lamb (1764-1847) on Tales from Shakespeare, a book for children that tells the stories of Shakespeare's plays in simple language