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

See Examples For:

the pits

Rosenqvist knew that by the time it returned to the pits, there would hardly be any racing left.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

In the days of floor trading, those working in the pits needed to be human calculators, instantly assessing how prices fluctuated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

Palou, whose Ganassi team excelled in the pits last April, agreed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

Piastri was proved right as Russell came out of the pits behind the McLaren.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2026

“The poison used on Thalia’s pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus.”

From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan