pit bull
40
3.9
- noun
- /ˈpɪt bʌl/
:
pitbull
- The pit bull is known for its strong build and friendly nature.
- a pit bull dog
- breed pit bulls
- pit bull terrier
Why does the press need to report every time a pit bull does damage to a human?
- Why does the press need to report every time a pit bull does damage to a human?
- I've got the my wife and my son and our two pit bulls and two Guinea pigs and our two pot bellied pigs, Amy and Snortington.
- I forgot to tell you the pit bull bites.
- No, no, no, Jane doesn't have a pit bull.
- The house smelled of marijuana and he had like several like pit bulls in the back.
- It's like if a black pit bull in your life had bitten you five times, you're scared.
- OK, OK, so no animal, a wolf's bite is five times stronger than a pit bulls.
- That's why all of them pit bulls, they will turn on you.
- We was, we was always known for our dogs, like seeing South London round back, seeing that we started this whole dog thing, everyone getting dogs and pit bulls and pool mastiffs.
- And like, I'm not saying they're all like, bad dogs because I know some great pit bulls, but it could it it could fuck me up, though, and that scares me.
Examples
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Doesn't look like a pit bull to me.
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You ever see a pit bull get a hold of something?
Academic text (1997) -
It's a brown and white pit bull.
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Large pit bull running up and down on location...
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From this angle, it is clear that the pit bull has been badly abused.
Fiction book (2002) -
- There's a pit bull!
-
Everybody here got themselves pit bulls or some kind of hounds.
Fiction book (1990) -
A three-year-old girl is still recovering after a pit bull attack earlier this month.
Blog text (22) -
"Charles White was walking his pit bull, Trooper, past a dying oak tree, its leaves nearly stripped bare."
Fiction book (2002) -
Tyrell leaps up the fence just as the pit bull lunges for him.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
1
3.6
A strong, muscular dog breed from the United States with a short coat and high energy
1
3.2
A strong dog with short fur that is often loyal and brave
Surface Forms
Morphology
pit + bull
Knowing 'pit' (a hole) and 'bull' (a male cattle or colloquially a strong man) does not allow a B1 learner to predict that 'pit bull' names a breed of dog. The compound is a conventional breed name with historical/registered usage rather than a compositional description, so its meaning is not derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
The noun pit bull may come from old fights where dogs faced bulls in a small area called a pit, so people joined pit and bull to name those strong dogs. That's why today pit bull means a strong type of dog, although many are friendly family pets.