piston whistle (pistonhwis"l)

A whistle in which, by shortening or lengthening the vibrating air-column through the movement of a piston sliding in the tube (or bell, as it is called in steam-whistles), a sound of varying pitch is emitted. See Modoc whistle, under whistle. Pisum (pi's um), n. [NL., = = 2. In zoöl., a genus of bivalves. Megerle, 1811. pit1 (pit), n. [ = = Pg. poço = It. pozzo, a well, And faste by it is a litylle pytt in the Erthe, where the foot of the Pileer is zit entered. Mandeville, Travels, p. 94. And as the child gan forby for to pace, This cursed Jew him hent and held him faste, And kitte his throte, and in a pit him caste. Chaucer, Priore 's Tale, 1. 119. Specifically-( a ) An excavation or hole in the ground, covered or otherwise concealed, for snaring wild beasts; a pitfall. (b) A hole dug in the soil of a potato or turnip field, for storing potatoes, etc., during the winter. The vegetables stored are usually piled up to some height and covered with earth to keep out the frost. [Great Britain.] (c) In hort., an excavation in the soil, generally covered by a glazed frame, for protecting tender plants, or for propagation. (d) In founding, a cavity scooped in the floor to receive cast-metal. (e) The shaft of a coal-mine, or the mine itself. (f) A vat, such as is used in tanning, bleaching, dyeing, etc. 2. A cavity or depre ion in the body: as, the pit of the stomach; the armpits. For person and complexion, they haue broad and flat visages, thin haired vpon the upper lip and pit of the chin, light and nimble-bodied with short legges. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 421. I found him lying on his bed with his clothes on, his shoes merely slipped off, and his hat held securely over the pit of his stomach. H. B. Stowe , Oldtown, p. 415. A very small depre ion dent, such IMG:content-0275.png:[blocks in formation] Sir Thomas Jermin, meaning to make himself merry, plum. [U. S.] lane with an hundred pounds and a dunghill cock, neatly all cockers, his man to the pit in cut and trimmed for the battle. Harl. MS ., No. 6395, quoted in Strutt's Sports and [Pastimes, p. 376. What though her chamber be the very pit Where fight the prime cocks of the game for wit. B. Jonson, An Epigram on the Court Pucell. 8. That part of a theater which is on the floor form of put1. stage, and behind the usual station of the mugiven to the inferior seats behind the stalls. In the United sicians. In the United Kingdom the name is now often States it has been superseded by orchestra or parquet. I and my wife sat in the pitt , and saw "The Bondman" done to admiration. Pepys , Diary, March 26, 1661. But we, the Actors, humbly will submit, Now, and at any time, to a full Pit . Wycherley, Country Wife, Prol. All bad Poets we are sure are Foes, And how their Number's swell'd the Town well knows; In shoals I've mark'd 'em judging in the Pit . Congreve, Way of the World, Epil. The Pit is an Amphitheater, fill'd with Benches without Back boards, and adorn'd and cover'd with green Cloth. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, [II. 6. 9. Those who occupy the pit in a theater; the people in the pit. Now, sir, your soliloquy-but speak more to the pit , if you please - the soliloquy always to the pit - that's a rule. Sheridan , The Critic, iii. 1. He [King George IV.) was received with immense acclamations, the whole pit standing up, hurrahing and waving their hands. Greville, Memoirs, Feb. 7, 1821. 10. That part of the floor of an exchange where a special kind of busine is carried on: as, a grain - pit; a provision- pit. [U. S.]—11. The cockpit of a ship.-12. The framework in a belfry which supports the pivoted yoke of a swinging bell. Sir E. Beckett, Clocks and Watches, p. 359. [Now little used.]-Gjers soaking-pit, a cavity lined with refractory material, used in metal-working to inclose large ingots, in order to preserve them at a high temperature, and thus avoid the nece ity of reheating. - Olfactory pits, certain hollows of the embryonic skull which will become nasal pa ages. - Pine-pit, in hort., a pit adapted for raising young plants to replenish pineries. - Pit and gallows, in feudal times, the privilege granted by the crown to barons of executing persons convicted of theft by hanging the men on a gallows and drowning the women in a pit. Also pot and gallows. - The bottomle pit, hell. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomle pit and a great chain in his hand. IMG:content-0276.png:[blocks in formation] To shoot or fly the pit, to turn tail and try to escape, like a craven cock in a pit. The whole nation... expre ing utmost detestation and abhorrence of the Whig principles, which made the whole party shoot the pit and retire. Roger North , Examen, p. 327. (Davies.) We were all to blame to make madam here fly the pit as she did. Richardson , Pamela, ii. 308. ( Davies .) pox; a dimple. IMG:content-0277.png:[blocks in formation] 4. In bot., one of the pores or thin places in the more or le lignified cell-walls of many plants. The bordered pits, which are especially characteristic of the wood of the Coniferæ, are composed of two concentric circles, which represent thin spots or pores in the walls of the tracheids. They are very regularly arranged. 5. A hollow or cup. Flowers on their stalks set Like vestal primroses, but dark velvet Edges them round, and they have golden pits . Keats , Endymion, i. 6. A deep place; a gulf; an aby . Specifically (a) The grave. Frendes, I am poor and old, And almost, God wot, on my pittes brynke. Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 157. Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave; thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit . Ps. xxx. 3. (b) The abode of evil spirits; hell. We also saw there the Hobgoblins, Satyrs, and Dragons of the pit . Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progre , p. 131. [ They lived like beasts and were pitted like beasts. Granger , On Ecclesiastes (1621), p. 213. ( Latham .) 2. To form a little pit or hollow in; mark with little dents, as by the pustules of the smallpox. An anasarca, a species of dropsy, is characterized by the shining and softne of the skin, which gives way to the least impre ion, and remains pitted for some time. Sharpe. The red acid acts too powerfully and pits the copper. Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 172. 3. To impre with rounded cup-like hollows, as the mold for a metal casting which is to have rounded bo es on it.-4. To put or set in the pit or area for fighting; match as contestants or opponents, one against another, as dogs or cocks: used figuratively of any competitors: generally followed by against. The pitting of them [cocks), as they call it, for the diver sion and entertainment of man, was, as I take it, a Grecian contrivance. Archæologia, III. 133. So crates is pitted against the famous atheist from Ionia, and has just brought him to a contradiction in terms. Macaulay , A then i an Orators. II. in trans. To become marked or spotted with pits or depre ions; retain the mark of pres Furcroœa ( Fourcroya ) gigantea .