armpit

American  

[ahrm-pit] / ˈɑrmˌpɪt /

noun

1. the hollow under the arm at the shoulder; axilla.

2. Slang. the worst possible place or area.

   Their car has broken down, stranding them in the armpit of California until it can be fixed.

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armpit British  

/ ˈɑːmˌpɪt /

noun

1. Technical name: axilla.  the small depression beneath the arm where it joins the shoulder

2. slang an extremely unpleasant place

   the armpit of the Mediterranean

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Etymology

Origin of armpit

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; arm ¹ + pit ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

He pulled Coal to him, slightly under his armpit, which at the end of a full school day was not the freshest.

From Literature

Natalie slipped her arms under Tía’s armpits, but she’d only managed to get her neighbor’s head above water before the next wave hit, pushing them all into the front wall again.

From Literature

Kutcher said he washed his “armpits and ... crotch daily and nothing else ever,” while Kunis said there was “no point” to bathing children unless you could “see the dirt on them.”

From Los Angeles Times

I close my eyes as the cop’s hands begin patting my shoulders, move on to my armpits, my legs, but I can still see the lights like lightning through my eyelids.

From Literature

“He lived in Bakersfield, which is the armpit of California,” Hankel says.

From The Wall Street Journal