pit

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English pytt (akin to Old High German pfuzzi well), from Latin puteus well, pit Date: before 12th century 1. a. (1) a hole, shaft, or cavity in the ground (2) mine (3) a scooped-out place used for burning something (as charcoal) b. an area often sunken or depressed below the adjacent floor area: as (1) an enclosure in which animals are made to fight each other (2) a space at the front of a theater for the orchestra (3) an area in a securities or commodities exchange in which members trade (as stocks) 2. a. hell 1a — used with the b. a place or situation of futility, misery, or degradation c. plural worst <

it's the pits

> 3. a hollow or indentation especially in the surface of an organism: as a. a natural hollow in the surface of the body b. one of the indented scars left in the skin by a pustular disease ; pockmark c. a minute depression in the secondary wall of a plant cell functioning in the intercellular movement of water and dissolved material 4. any of the areas alongside an auto racecourse used for refueling and repairing the cars during a race — often used in plural with the II. verb (pitted; pitting) Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. a. to place, cast, bury, or store in a pit b. to make pits in; especially to scar or mark with pits 2. a. to set (as gamecocks) into or as if into a pit to fight b. to set into opposition or rivalry — usually used with against intransitive verb 1. to become marked with pits; especially to preserve for a time an indentation made by pressure 2. to make a pit stop III. noun Etymology: Dutch, from Middle Dutch — more at pith Date: 1841 the stone of a drupaceous fruit IV. transitive verb (pitted; pitting) Date: 1906 to remove the pit from (a fruit)