pit1
  
  n.
         - a large hole in the ground. 
▸a mine or excavation for coal or minerals.
 ▸a sunken area in a workshop floor allowing access to a car's underside.
 - a hollow or indentation in a surface.
 - an area at the side of a track where racing cars are serviced and refuelled.
 - short for orchestra pit (see orchestra).
 - 
(the pit)
 Brit. dated the seating at the back of the stalls of a theatre.
 - a part of the floor of an exchange in which a particular stock or commodity is traded.
 - chiefly historical an enclosure in which animals are made to fight:
 a bear pit.
 - 
(the pit)
 literary hell. 
▸
(
the pits)
 
informal a very bad place or situation:
 this really is the pits!
 - Brit. informal a person's bed.
 
v.
 (pits, pitting, pitted)
   - 
(pit someone/thing against)
 set someone or something in conflict or competition with.
 - make a hollow or indentation in the surface of. 
▸sink in or contract so as to form a hollow.
 - drive a racing car into the pit.
 
 
  Phrase
  
    
      - the pit of the stomach
 the region of the lower abdomen. 
    
   
  Derivative
  
  Etymology
  OE pytt, of W. Gmc origin, based on L. puteus ‘well, shaft’; sense 1 of the verb derives from the former practice of setting animals to fight each other in a pit.
 
  
    
pit2
  
  n.
 the stone of a fruit.
v.
 (pits, pitting, pitted)
 remove the pit from (fruit).
 
  Derivative
  
  Etymology
  C19: appar. from Du.; rel. to pith.