the pits

Idioms  

1. The worst possible situation, as in Spending your birthday working alone is the pits, or That job is the pits. The allusion in this term is unclear. Some think it refers to coal pits, others to armpits, and still others to the area beside an auto racecourse, also called the pits, where cars are serviced during a race. [Second half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

They opened for dealing in the pits of the Kansas City Board of Trade.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 24, 2026

To date, La Brea Tar Pits researchers have unearthed millions of samples from the pits dating back 50,000 years and still conduct daily open-air excavations.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

But the warning goes unheeded – the loss of Yayah and Mohamed has not emptied the pits.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2025

Prowl through the Strip after dark, sift through the pits, and you’ll feel the difference.

From Slate • Nov. 18, 2025

I don’t mind the work — digging the pits grinding the oak bark smearing the hides with dung.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz