noun

• (motor racing) An area at a racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
  "Two drivers have already gone into the pit this early in the race."
• (music) The section of a marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to be marched, such as the tam-tam; the front ensemble. Can also refer to the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
• (archaeology) A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.
  "The exact sites of Feng and Hao have yet to be verified, but seven pits containing chariots, horses and other Zhou burial objects were discovered at Fengxi, and a concentration of Western Zhou relics and tombs was found in the area of Doumen in Changan County on the east bank of the Feng River."
• (trading) A trading pit.

verb

• (transitive) To make pits in; to mark with little hollows.
  "Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal."
• (transitive) To put (an animal) into a pit for fighting.
• (transitive) To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
  "Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?"
• (intransitive, motor racing) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
  "Bottas had to pit earlier than expected for fresh tyres. Hamilton followed him in next time around and the two drivers were instructed to stay off the kerbs to protect their tyres."

noun

• (military) The core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.
  "[...] weapons "pits" (the plutonium components of nuclear weapons, named by analogy with the pit of a fruit such as a peach), [...]."

verb

• (transitive) To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.
  "One must pit a peach to make it ready for a pie."