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

to pit

3 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

7 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

1 9.5

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

Phrasal Verbs

to pit against each other

12 6.1

Make people or groups compete against each other

to make a pit stop

11 3.8

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

Compounds

pit bull

74 3.9

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

pit stop

37 3.6

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

bottomless pit

Informal

14 6.3

A situation that always needs more money or help

fire pit

11 2.9

An outdoor place that holds a fire for warmth or cooking

tar pit

8 7.6

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

pit stop

8 3.9

A quick stop during a race to refuel or change tires

snake pit

Informal

7 7.3

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

money pit

Informal

7 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

pit viper

Specialized

4 8.0

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

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

peach pit

3 3.1

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

pit of despair

Informal

2 9.0

A very deep feeling of sadness with no hope

pit bull terrier

1 3.2

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

slime pit

1 4.9

A pit filled with thick sticky slime used for messy games

fire pit

1 6.0

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

American pit bull terrier

1 3.6

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

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

borrow pit

Specialized

1 8.1

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

chalk pit

1 6.8

A large hole in the ground where people dig out chalk

stone pit

1 4.9

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

flea pit

Archaic

1 8.6

A small dirty cinema or theater in very bad condition

pit run

Specialized

1 7.9

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

pit-run gravel

Specialized

1 7.4

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

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-yacker

Archaic

9.9

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

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.