snake pit

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a mental hospital marked by squalor and inhumane or indifferent care for the patients.

an intensely chaotic or disagreeable place or situation.

QUIZZES

Apostrophes can be tricky; prove you know the difference between it’s and its in this crafty quiz!

Question 1 of 12

On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.

First recorded in 1945–50

So what of the photograph of what the Senate report described as a “well-used waterboard” with buckets around it, at the Salt Pit?
CIA Interrogation Chief: ‘Rectal Feeding,’ Broken Limbs Are News to Me|Kimberly Dozier|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He watched the pit grow bigger every month, despite the numerous reports he wrote about the facility.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He said he watched waste haulers back up to the pit and unleash torrents of watery muck.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In several reports he urged the pit operators to safeguard the birds.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.|David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News|December 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

For these Arabs, Iran is the raised (and loaded) head of the snake.
The Nuclear Deal That Iran’s Regime Fears Most|Djavad Khadem|November 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
With the management of these, however, the Earl of Pit Town did not trouble himself.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
At length the great Pit Town collection was housed as it deserved to be.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Old Pit Town knows lots of good people, and would give us letters, I suppose.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Certes le capitaine Merveilles et ses gens monstrerent leur pit non vulgaire.
The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Vol. II: Acadia, 1612-1614|Various
He heard Mohammedans alluding to a Brahmin as a leader—so might a wolf and a snake make common alliance against a watch dog.
The Red Year|Louis Tracy