gravel pit
4
3.6
- noun
- /ˈɡrævəl pɪt/
:
cantera de grava
- Meanwhile, the older children were coming home from the gravel pit with carts full of corundum and occasional gem-quality stones.
- gravel pit and quarry
- abandoned gravel pit
- go into a gravel pit
Examples
-
The construction crew extracted materials from the gravel pit to build the new road.
-
He owned three gravel pits in town, four dump trucks, a front-end loader, and a bulldozer.
Fiction book (1997) -
Down the path, into the gravel pit.
-
I completed my investigation on what happened last night, down at the gravel pit.
-
My brother and I were hiding by the old cemetery, next to the gravel pit.
-
Marilee fell into the gravel pit.
Fiction book (2002) -
Her only other option was a sand and gravel pit in High Wycombe.
-
We drove out to a gravel pit in a dry streambed, took giant shovels, and filled the bed of the truck with gravel.
Fiction book (1991) -
During our hike, we stumbled upon a peaceful gravel pit filled with water.
-
The town decided to rehabilitate the old gravel pit into a park for the community.
Synonyms
230
3.6
A large hole in the ground used for mining
55
4.9
An open place in the ground where people remove stone
9
5.4
A hole in the ground made by digging, often for building or finding old things
1
8.1
A hole that people dig to take soil or gravel for building work
A large open hole in the ground where people take stone for building
A large hole in the ground where people dig out chalk
A hole dug in the ground to get stone or clay
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an open excavation where gravel is obtained' is directly derived from combining 'gravel' (small stones) with 'pit' (an open hole), forming a material+place compound. This straightforward compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The compound noun gravel pit comes from a simple picture: a pit dug to get gravel, a hole where people dig out small stones, so it means 'an open place where gravel is taken'.