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Glite Dictionary
plutonium pit

plutonium pit

1 9.9
A metal sphere with plutonium that starts a nuclear explosion when squeezed by explosives
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : pozo de plutonio
  • The government plans to securely store the retired plutonium pit until a final disposal solution is reached.
  • plutonium pit in a weapon

Examples

  • Hollow plutonium pit.

    My Spy (2020)

  • The plutonium pit consists of three canisters of plutonium E, one and a half pounds.

    Unthinkable (2010)

  • Each plutonium pit contains plutonium-239, which is crucial for initiating a nuclear reaction in weapons.

  • Engineers carefully handle the plutonium pits during disassembly to ensure safety and prevent contamination.

Synonyms

plutonium trigger
vsplutonium pit
  • Specialized
9.9

A small metal device that holds plutonium and starts a nuclear explosion when explosives squeeze it

has identical meaning but refers specifically to the internal spherical core

Surface Forms

plutonium pit singular
plutonium pits plural

Morphology

plutonium + pit

Although the constituents 'plutonium' and 'pit' are individually understandable, a B1 learner would not infer the specialized technical meaning (a metal core/sphere in a nuclear weapon) from the literal sense of 'pit' as a hole. This is a domain-specific jargon use of 'pit' (military/technical) rather than the common spatial meaning, so the overall sense is not predictably derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Plutonium pit joins plutonium (the heavy metal) and pit (like the hard seed at the centre of a fruit). The picture of a small 'pit' in the middle helps explain why the phrase means the tiny 'core' part inside a nuclear 'weapon'.