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Pit vs Pat - What's the difference?

pit | pat |

As a noun pit

is foot.

pit

English

(wikipedia pit)

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A hole in the ground.
  • (motor racing) An area at a motor racetrack used for refueling and repairing the vehicles during a race.
  • (music) A section of the marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to march, such as the tam tam. Also, the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.
  • A mine.
  • (archaeology) A hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.
  • (trading) A trading pit.
  • Something particularly unpleasant.
  • The bottom part of.
  • (colloquial) Armpit, oxter.
  • (aviation) A luggage hold.
  • (countable) A small surface hole or depression, a fossa.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits' around two microns across. Such '''pits''' are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these ' pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}
  • The indented mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
  • The grave, or underworld.
  • * Milton
  • Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained.
  • * Bible, Job xxxiii. 18
  • He keepeth back his soul from the pit .
  • An enclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats.
  • * John Locke
  • as fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit
  • Formerly, that part of a theatre, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theatre.
  • Part of a casino which typically holds tables for blackjack, craps, roulette, and other games.
  • Derived terms
    * armpit * money pit * pit-eye * pit stop

    Verb

    (pitt)
  • To make pits in.
  • Exposure to acid rain pitted the metal.
  • To put (a dog) into a pit for fighting.
  • To bring (something) into opposition with something else.
  • Are you ready to pit your wits against one of the world's greatest puzzles?
  • * 22 March 2012 , Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games [http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hunger-games,71293/]
  • For the 75 years since a district rebellion was put down, The Games have existed as an assertion of the Capital’s power, a winner-take-all contest that touts heroism and sacrifice—participants are called “tributes”— while pitting the districts against each other.
  • (motor racing) To return to the pits during a race for refuelling, tyre changes, repairs etc.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . Compare (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A seed inside a fruit; a stone or pip inside a fruit.
  • A shell in a drupe containing a seed.
  • Verb

    (pitt)
  • To remove the stone from a stone fruit or the shell from a drupe.
  • One must pit a peach to make it ready for a pie.

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    pat

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . For loss of ''l , compare (patch) for (platch); (pate) for (plate), etc. See (l).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep
  • A light tap or slap, especially with the hands
  • A flattish lump of soft matter, especially butter or dung.
  • * Charles Dickens
  • It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter.
    Derived terms
    * pat on the back (n.) * patter * pitter-pat: a diminutive of footfalls. "the pitter-pat of little feet running around the house."

    Verb

    (patt)
  • To (gently) tap the flat of one's hand on a person or thing.
  • To show affection, he decided he would pat the boy on the head.
  • * 1877 , (Anna Sewell), (Black Beauty) Chapter 22[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Black_Beauty/22]
  • He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.
  • To hit lightly and repeatedly with the flat of the hand to make smooth or flat
  • I patted the cookie dough into shape.
  • * 1900 , L. Frank Baum , The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Chapter 23
  • Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
  • (Australia, New Zealand) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
  • Do you want to pat the cat?
  • To gently rain.
  • Derived terms
    * pat down * pat on the back (v.)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • timely, suitable, apt, opportune, ready for the occasion; especially of things spoken
  • a pat expression
  • * 1788, Cowper, Pity for Africans , p 18
  • A story so pat , you may think it is coined.
  • trite, being superficially complete, lacking originality
  • * 2010, New York Times , Editorial: Jobs and the Class of 2010, May 23.
  • The pat answer is that college students should consider graduate school as a way to delay a job search until things turn around, and that more high school students should go to college to improve their prospects. ''
    Derived terms
    * pat hand

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • opportunely, in a timely or suitable way.
  • * c''. 1600 , William Shakespeare, '' III.iii
  • Now might I do it pat
  • Perfectly.
  • He has the routine down pat .
    Derived terms
    * pat in the middle

    See also

    * strike * hit * feel * name

    Etymology 2

    Abbreviation.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • patent
  • (knitting) pattern
  • * 2012 , Kari Cornell, Knitting Sweaters from around the World (page 52)
  • Work in pat to next underarm marker, sm, place next st on holder

    Anagrams

    * ----