🕳️ A large hole 🕳️ A small hollow 🏟️ An activity area ⚔️ To set against 🔥 Hell 🍑 A fruit stone 🕳️ To make hollows 🍒 To remove stone

to pit

7 5.5

To remove the stone from a fruit like a cherry

verb
/pɪt/

: deshuesar

If I waited until tomorrow to finish my pie, I wouldn't have to pit the rest of the cherries.

Or do I start prepping them by pitting them and then stealing them to a container?

Examples

Or do I start prepping them by pitting them and then stealing them to a container?

Sarah Rae Vargas
By the time they were washed, stemmed, pitted, boiled, sugared, flouted, and baked, they would have shrunk to a third of their size.

Fiction book (1996)
Already her fingertips were blackened with juice; she could pit a whole bowlful without looking.

Fiction book (1996)
After washing the cherries, she began to pit them so that she could bake a pie.
To make the salad, remember to pit the avocado before dicing it.
He showed me how to pit a plum by cutting around the stone and twisting to remove it.

Synonyms

to seed

vsto pit

Specialized

10 3.5

To remove seeds from fruit or vegetables

is narrower, focusing on hard inner parts in fruits like cherries and plums

to stone

vsto pit

1 4.6

To remove the hard inner part from a fruit

is broader, covering removal of both hard inner parts and small inner kernels

Idioms

hit in the pit of someone's stomach

9.5

Cause a sudden sick feeling of fear or shock in the stomach

Phrasal Verbs

to pit against each other

10 6.1

Make people or groups compete against each other

to make a pit stop

9 3.8

To stop briefly on a journey to use the toilet or get food

Compounds

pit bull

40 3.9

A strong, muscular dog often kept as a pet and known for loyalty

pit stop

21 3.9

A quick stop during a race to refuel or change tires

pit stop

14 3.6

A short stop on a trip to rest, stretch, or get fuel

money pit

Informal

6 7.3

A thing like a house or boat that always needs a lot of money for repairs

gravel pit

4 3.6

A hole in the ground where people dig gravel for building

fire pit

4 2.9

An outdoor place that holds a fire for warmth or cooking

tar pit

4 7.6

A place with thick sticky black oil that traps animals and preserves their bones

bottomless pit

Informal

3 6.3

A situation that always needs more money or help

orchestra pit

3 4.7

A lowered space in front of a stage where musicians sit and play for a show

barbecue pit

3 2.4

A place in the ground where people burn wood or charcoal to cook meat

pit viper

Specialized

3 8.0

A snake with a heat pit near each eye that injects poison when it bites

snake pit

Informal

3 7.3

An unpleasant, chaotic place where people act badly toward each other

pit of despair

Informal

2 9.0

A very deep feeling of sadness with no hope

peach pit

1 3.1

A hard stone in the middle of a peach that contains the seed

American pit bull terrier

1 3.6

A strong, muscular dog breed from the United States with a short coat and high energy

flea pit

Archaic

1 8.6

A small dirty cinema or theater in very bad condition

borrow pit

Specialized

1 8.1

A hole that people dig to take soil or gravel for building work

pit bull terrier

1 3.2

A strong dog with short fur that is often loyal and brave

pit of the stomach

1 7.0

A slight hollow just below the chest bone where you feel anxiety or pain

pit-house

Specialized

1 8.6

A shelter dug partly into the ground with a roof to live in or keep animals

plutonium pit

Specialized

1 9.9

A metal sphere with plutonium that starts a nuclear explosion when squeezed by explosives

chalk pit

6.8

A large hole in the ground where people dig out chalk

fire pit

6.0

A deep hole at a volcano with hot, glowing lava at the bottom

pit lizard

Archaic

9.9

A person who often goes to bars and clubs at night

pit nutter

Offensive

9.9

A fan of car racing who pays too much attention to small race details

pit run

Specialized

7.9

Gravel taken directly from a pit or quarry with mixed stone sizes

pit-run gravel

Specialized

7.4

A loose mix of small stones and sand taken from a gravel pit and used as is

pit-yacker

Archaic

9.9

A person who tells stories and gossip about miners, often in a funny way

slime pit

4.9

A pit filled with thick sticky slime used for messy games

stone pit

4.9

A large open hole in the ground where people take stone for building

Surface Forms

pit infinitive

pitted past

pitted past participle

pitting present participle

pits third person singular

Etymology

To pit a fruit means to take out its 'pit' or stone, and this verb comes directly from the noun for that hard inner piece.