Concord & Concorde

Concord or Concorde (pronounced kon-kawrd)

(1) Agreement between persons, groups, nations, etc.; concurrence in attitudes, feelings, etc; unanimity; accord; agreement between things; mutual fitness; harmony.

(2) In formal grammar, a technical rule about the agreement of words with one another (case, gender, number or person).

(3) A treaty; compact; covenant.

(4) In music, a stable, harmonious combination of tones; a chord requiring no resolution.

(5) As concordat, under Roman-Catholic canon law, a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Church and the state in matters that concern both.

(6) In law, an agreement between the parties regarding land title in reference to the manner in which it should pass, being an acknowledgment that the land in question belonged to the complainant (obsolete).

(7) A popular name for locality, commercial operations and products such as ships, cars etc.

(8) In horticulture, a variety of sweet American grape, named circa 1853 after Concord, Massachusetts, where the variety was developed.

1250-1300: From the Middle English and twelfth century Old French concorde (harmony, agreement, treaty) & concorder, from the Latin concordare & concordia, (harmonious), from concors (of the same mine; being in agreement with) (genitive concordis (of the same mind, literally “hearts together”)).  The construct was an assimilated form of com (con-) (with; together) + cor (genitive cordis (heart) from the primitive Indo-European root kerd (heart)).  The "a compact or agreement" in the sense of something formal (usually in writing) dates from the late fifteenth century, an extension of use from the late fourteenth century transitive verb which carried the sense "reconcile, bring into harmony".  From circa 1400 it had been understood to mean "agree, cooperate, thus a transfer of sense from the Old French & Latin forms.  Concorde was the French spelling which eventually was adopted also by the British for the supersonic airliner after some years of linguistic squabble.  Concord is a noun & verb, concordance & concordat are nouns, concorded & concording are verbs and concordial & concordant are adjectives; the noun plural is concords.

The Concorde and other SSTs

Promotional rendering of Concorde in British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) livery.  BOAC was the UK's national carrier between 1940-1974 when merged with British European Airways (BEA) to form British Airways (BA).

Concorde was an Anglo-French supersonic airliner that first flew in 1969 and operated commercially between 1976-2003.  It had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound (Mach 2.04; 1,354 mph (2,180 km/h)) and seated 92-128 passengers.  Man breaking the sound barrier actually wasn’t modern; the cracking of a whip, known for thousands of years, is the tip passing through the sound barrier and engineers were well aware of the problems caused by propellers travelling that fast but it wasn’t until 1947 that a manned aircraft exceeded Mach 1 in controlled flight (although it had been achieved in deep dives though not without structural damage).  The military were of course immediately interested but so were those who built commercial airliners, intrigued at the notion of transporting passengers at supersonic speed, effectively shrinking the planet.  By the late 1950s, still recovering from the damage and costs of two world wars, France and the UK were never going to be in a position to be major players in the space-race which would play-out between the US and USSR but civil aviation did offer possibilities for both nations to return to the forefront of the industry.  France, in the early days of flight had been the preeminent power (a legacy of that being words like fuselage and aileron) and UK almost gained an early lead in passenger jets but the debacle of the de Havilland Comet (1949) had seen the Boeing 707 (1957) assume dominance.  The supersonic race was thought to be the next horizon and the UK’s Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) was in 1956 commissioned with the development of a Supersonic Transport (SST) for commercial use.

The committee’s early research soon established it was going to be an expensive undertaking so the UK sought partners; the US declined but in 1962 the UK and France signed the Anglo-French Concorde agreement, a framework for cooperation in the building of the one SST.  The choice of name actually came some months after the engineering concord was signed, the manufacturers submitting to the UK cabinet the names Concord and Concorde, it being thought desirable to have something which sounded and meant the same in both languages (the French had already agreed it shouldn’t be called the Super-Caravelle the project name for a smaller SST on which some work had been done in 1960).  The other suggestions put to cabinet were Alliance or Europa.  In the cabinet discussions in London, Alliance was thought to be "too military" and Europa offended those Tories who still hankered for the "splendid isolation" which had been the British view on European matters in the previous century.  Even in the nineteenth century age of Pax Britannica splendid isolation had been somewhat illusory but in the Tory Party the words still exerted a powerful pull.  

Concorde 001 roll-out, Toulouse Blagnac airport, 11 December 1967.

There is some dispute about whether the cabinet ever formally agreed to use the French spelling but, like much in English-French relations over the centuries, the entente proved not always cordial and the name was officially changed to Concord by UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan (later First Earl Stockton, 1894–1986; UK prime-minister 1957-1963) in response to him feeling slighted by Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970; President of France 1958-1969) when Le President vetoed the UK’s application to join the European Economic Community (the EEC which evolved into the present Day EU of which the UK was a member between 1973-2020).  However, the Labour party won office in the 1964 general election and by the time of the roll-out in Toulouse in 1967, the UK’s Minister for Technology, Tony Benn (Anthony Wedgwood Benn, 1925–2014, formerly the second Viscount Stansgate) announced he was changing the spelling back to Concorde.  There were not many eurosceptics in the (old) Labour Party back then.

Concorde taking off, 1973 Paris Air Show, the doomed Tupolev Tu-144 is in the foreground.

The engineering challenges were overcome and in 1969, some months before the moon landing, Concorde made its maiden flight and, in 1973, a successful demonstration flight was performed at the same Paris air show at which its Soviet competitor Tupolev Tu-144 crashed.  Impressed, more than a dozen airlines placed orders but within months of the Paris show, the first oil shock hit and the world entered a severe recession; the long post-war boom was over.  A quadrupling in the oil price was quite a blow for a machine which burned 20% more fuel per mile than a Boeing 747 yet typically carried only a hundred passengers whereas the Jumbo could be configured for between four and five hundred.  That might still have been viable had have oil prices remained low and a mass-market existed of people willing to pay a premium but with jet fuel suddenly expensive and the world in recession, doubts existed and most orders were immediately cancelled.

Eventually, only twenty were built, operated only by BOAC (BEA/BA) and Air France, early hopes of mass-production never materialized; while orders were taken for over a hundred with dozens more optioned, the contracts were soon cancelled.  By 1976 only four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran; the latter two never took up their orders and by the time Concorde entered service, the US had cancelled their supersonic project and the Soviet programme was soon to follow.  Even without the oil shocks of the 1970s and the more compelling economics of wide-bodied airliners like the Boeing 747, there were problems, the noise of the sonic boom as the speed of sound was exceeded meaning it was impossible to secure agreement for it to operate over land at supersonic speed.  Accordingly, most of its time was spent overflying the Atlantic and Pacific and BA and Air France sometimes made profit from Concorde only because the British and French governments wrote off the development costs.  Concorde was an extraordinary technical achievement but existed only because the post-war years in the UK and France were characterised by national projects undertaken by nationalised industries.  Under orthodox modern (post Reagan cum Thatcher) economics, such a thing could never happen. 

On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, bound for New York, crashed on take-off out of Paris, killing all one-hundred and nine souls on board and four on the ground. It was the only fatal accident involving Concorde, the cause determined to be debris on the runway which entered an engine, causing catastrophic damage.  In April 2003, both Air France and British Airways announced that they would retire Concorde later that year citing low passenger numbers following the crash, the slump in air travel following the 9/11 attacks and rising maintenance costs.

Lindsay Lohan in The Parent Trap (1998)

Fictional works are usually constructed cognizant of physical reality and technological innovations have always influenced what's possible in plot-lines.  The cell phone for example offered many possibilities but also rendered some situations either impossible or improbable (although Hollywood has sometimes found either of those no obstacle in a screenplay).  The retirement of Concorde also had to be noted.  Not only had it long been used as a symbol of wealth but there was also the speed so plot-lines which included the relativities of the duration of commercial supersonic versus subsonic trans-Atlantic travel were suddenly no loner possible.  Lindsay Lohan's line in The Parent Trap (1998) since 2003 (and for the foreseeable future) is a relic of the Concorde era.     

Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO reporting name: Charger).

The Tu-144 was the USSR’s SST and it was the first to fly, its maiden flight in 1968 some months before Concorde and sixteen were built.  It was also usually ahead of the Anglo-French development, attaining supersonic speed twelve weeks earlier and entering commercial service in 1975 but safety and reliability concerns doomed the project and its reputation never recovered from the 1973 crash.  The Soviet carrier Aeroflot introduced a regular Moscow-Almaty service but only a few dozen flights were ever completed, the Tu-144 withdrawn after a second crash in 1978 after which it was used only for cargo until 1983 when the remaining fleet was grounded.  It was later used to train Soviet cosmonauts and had a curious post-cold war career when chartered by NASA for high-altitude research.  The final flight was in 1999.

Boeing 2707.

While perfecting supersonic military aircraft during the early 1950s, Americans had explored the idea of SSTs as passenger aircraft and had concluded that while it was technically possible, in economic terms such a thing could never be made to work and that four-engined jets like the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC8 were the future of commercial aviation.  However, the announcement of the development of Concorde and the Soviet SST stirred the Kennedy White House into funding what was essentially a vanity project proving the technical superiority of US science and engineering.  Boeing won the competition to design an SST and, despite also working on the 747 and the space programme, it gained a high priority and the 2707 was projected to be the biggest, fastest and most advanced of all the SSTs, seating up to three-hundred, cruising at Mach 3 and configured with a swing-wing.  Cost, complexity and weight doomed that last feature and the design was revised to use a conventional delta shape.  But, however advanced US engineering and science might have been, US accountancy was better still and what was clearly an financially unviable programme was in 1971 cancelled even before the two prototypes had been completed.

Lockheed L-2000.

Lockheed also entered the government-funded competition to design a US SST.  Similar to the Boeing concept in size, speed and duration, it eschewed the swing-wing because, despite the aerodynamic advantages, the engineers concluded what Boeing would eventually admit: that the weight, cost and complexity acceptable in military airframes, couldn’t be justified in a civilian aircraft.  As the military-industrial complex well knew, the Pentagon was always more sanguine about spending other people's money (OPM) than those people were about parting with their own.  Lockheed instead used a slightly different compromise: the compound delta.  After the competition, Boeing and Lockheed were both selected to continue to the prototype stage but in 1966 Boeing’s swing-wing design was preferred because its performance was in most aspects superior and it was quieter; that it was going to be more expensive to produce wasn’t enough to sway the government, things being different in the 1960s.  Reality finally bit in 1971.

Depiction of a Boom Overture.

In mid-2021 US airline United announced plans to acquire a fleet of fifteen new supersonic airliners which they expected to be in service by 2029.  It wasn’t clear from the press release what was the most ambitious aspect of the programme: (1) that the Colorado company called Boom, which has yet to achieve supersonic flight, would be able to produce even one machine by 2029, (2) that the aircraft can be delivered close to the budgeted US$200 million unit cost, (3) that what United describe as “improvements in aircraft design since Concorde” will reduce and mitigate the sonic boom, (4) that it won’t be “any louder than other modern passenger jets while taking off, flying over land and landing”, (5) that sufficient passengers will be prepared to pay a premium to fly at Mach 1.7 in a new and unproven airframe built by a company with no record in the industry or that (6) Greta Thunberg (b 2003) will believe Boom which says Overture will operate as a "net-zero carbon aircraft".

Unlikely to approve: Greta Thunberg.

The suggestion is the Overture will run on "posh biodiesel" made from anything from waste cooking fat to specially grown high-energy crops although whether this industry can by 2029 be scaled-up to produce what’s required to service enough of the aviation industry to make either project viable isn’t clear.  Still, if not, Boom claims "power-to-liquid" processes by which renewable energy such as solar or wind power is used to produce liquid fuel will make up any shortfall.  Boom does seem a heroic operation: they expect the Overture to be profitable for airlines even if tickets are sold for the same price as a standard business-class ticket.  One way or another, the path the Boom Overture follows over the next few years is going to become a standard case-study in university departments although whether that's in marketing, engineering or accountancy might depend matters beyond Boom's control.

Ogee

Ogee (pronounced oh-jee)

(1) A double curve, resembling the letter S, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite directions so that the ends are parallel.   An ogee is a kind of sigmoid curve, technically formed by the union of a concave and a convex line.

(2) In architecture, a molding with such a curve for a profile; cyma, also called gula or talon.

(3) In fluid mechanics, a specific aerodynamic profile.

(4) In mathematics, an inflection point.

(5) In cosmetic surgery, a desired shape for the curve of the malar or cheekbone prominence transitioning into the mid-cheek hollow.

(6) In distillation, the bubble-shaped chamber of a pot still connecting the swan neck to the pot which allows distillate to expand, condense and fall back into the pot.

1275-1325: From the Middle English ogeus (plural oggez), ogeve, egeve & egeove, variants by assimilation from the French oggif (diagonal rib of a vault) from the Old French œgive, ogival, ogive & augive, from the Late Latin augiva of uncertain origin.  In the Late Latin there was ogis (a support, prop), thought derived from the Classical Latin augeō (to increase, strengthen) from which Spanish gained auge (highest point of power or fortune; apogee); a doublet of ogive.  The use in architecture to describe regular & irregular S-shaped moldings began in the 1670s, supplanting the earlier augive, from the Late Latin augiva of uncertain origin but perhaps related to the Latin via (way; road).  In the Middle English, the late thirteenth century ogif was "a stone for the diagonal rib of a vault", derived from the French and the Medieval Latin ogiva.

An Ogee arch.

An ogee is a curved shape vaguely like an “S”, consisting of two arcs that curve in opposite senses, so that the ends are tangential.  In architecture, it’s used to describe a molding with a profile made by a lower concave arc flowing into a convex arc.  Used first in Persian and Greek architecture from Antiquity, it’s most familiar now as a part of the Gothic style.  Because the upper curves of the ogee arch are reversed, it’s not suitable where the load-bearing rates are high and it’s thus used mostly in self-supporting structures exposed to their own weight and not subject to high external forces.

An inflection point.

In mathematics, an ogee is an inflection point, a point on a curve at which the sign of the curvature (ie the concavity) changes; inflection points may be stationary but are neither local maxima nor local minima.  Inflection Points merely mark the point on the curve where it changes from concave upward to concave downward (or vice versa), it is not a directional measure.  Calculus is needed to find where a curve goes from concave upward to concave downward and for this mathematicians use derivatives, one which determines the slope and a second which defines whether the slope increases or decreases.

The cosmetic surgeon's template.

When cosmetic surgeons speak of the ogee curve, they’re referring to the elongated S curve which, when looking at a patient’s face at a three-quarter aspect, describes the curve from the eye through the cheek down to below the cheek (technically the malar or cheekbone prominence transitioning into the mid-cheek hollow).  As people age, the face loses volume in our face and the ogee curve flattens out. With facelifts and related procedures, the cosmetic surgeon aims to create an ogee curve, restoring the chiseled refinement of youth.

Lindsay Lohan, Cosmopolitan, October 2022 edition (photographs by Ellen Von Unwerth (b 1954)).  The photographs illustrate the ideal ogee curve in the facial structure and Ms Lohan shows how a model's pout can be used to optimize the effect.  The car is a second generation AMC Javelin (1971-1974).

Shapes derived from the ogee curve are popular design motifs used for just about everything where they can be applied but it's most associated with large, flat surfaces because it's in such spaces the geometric repetition can be most effective, thus the prevalence in fabrics, wallpaper and floor-coverings.  The mind visualizes the shape as something like a two-headed onion and it's probably the association with the architectural style so often seen on mosques or other structures in the Arab world that in there's presumed to be some Islamic influence but ogee long pre-dates Islam.  There are few conventions of use except that the designs tend to be displayed in either a horizontal or vertical aspect; diagonal deployment is rare.

In fluid mechanics, the ogee describes the shape used to create certain aerodynamic profiles, the classic example being the delta wing of the Concorde airplane.  The ogee-type wing used on the Concorde one flavor of the compound delta (sometimes called double delta or cranked arrow) where the leading edge is not straight.  Typically the inboard section has increased sweepback, creating a controlled high-lift vortex without the need for a foreplane and the shape of the sweepback is defined by the parameters of the ogee.  On the Concorde, the two sections and cropped wingtip merge into a smooth ogee curve.

Delta

Delta (pronounced del-tuh)

(1) The fourth letter of the Modern Greek alphabet (Δ, δ).

(2) The consonant sound represented by this letter.

(3) The fourth in a series of items.

(4) Anything triangular, an allusion to the Greek capital delta (Δ).

(5) In mathematics, an incremental change in a variable, as Δ or δ.

(6) A nearly flat plain of alluvial deposit between diverging branches of the mouth of a river, often, though not necessarily, triangular.

(7) A word used in communications to represent the letter D (usually initial capital letter); Used in the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) radiotelephony spelling alphabet (usually known as the NATO phonetic alphabet).

(8) In astronomy, a star that is usually the fourth brightest of a constellation (initial capital letter).

(9) In computing, a small but noticeable effect or the set of differences between two versions of a file; in informal use, a small but noticeable effect.

(10) In surveying, the angle subtended at the centre of a circular arc.

(11) A type of cargo bike that has one wheel in front and two in back.

(12) In electrical engineering (often attributive), the closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.

(13) In finance, the rate of change in an option value with respect to the underlying asset's price.

(14) In chemistry, a value in delta notation indicating the relative abundances of isotopes or relating to or characterizing a polypeptide chain that is one of five types of heavy chains present in immunoglobins.

(15) In aerodynamics, a type of wing.

(16) The NATO code name for a class of Soviet nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine armed with sixteen multi-warhead missiles.

(17) In physics, of or characterizing the atom or radical group that is fourth in position from the functional group of atoms in an organic molecule.

(18) In US Space Force use, a unit, nominally headed by a colonel, equivalent to a USAF operations wing, or an army regiment.

(19)   In electrical engineering, the closed figure produced by connecting three coils or circuits successively, end for end, especially in a three-phase system.

Circa 1200: From the Middle English deltha from the Latin delta from the Ancient Greek δέλτα (délta), from the Phoenician dalet & daleth (tent door).  It was akin to the Hebrew dāleth.  It was the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (equivalent to the Modern English D) and was shaped like a triangle (Δ).  The sense of a delta being a "triangular island or alluvial tract between the diverging branches of the mouth of a great river" is because the Ancient Greek writer Herodotus (circa 484–circa 425 BC) used it to describe the mouth of the Nile River (now known as the Nile Delta).  That was picked up in English during the 1550s and applied to other river mouths (often of quite different shapes) by 1790.  The related forms are deltaic and deltification.  In pre-modern medicine, the deltoid muscle (the large muscle of the shoulder; triangular, resembling the Greek letter delta) was described in 1758, the name from the Ancient Greek deltoeides (triangular, literally "shaped like the letter delta).  In modern use, the "deltoid muscle" gained the short-form “delts” in 1977.  The related form is deltoidal.

The delta-wing

Gloster Javelin (1951-1967).  The first twin-engined delta-wing in service, the Javelin was the UK’s long-term solution to its need for an all-weather interceptor, the post-war technology gap until then filled by the stop-gap Gloster Meteor and that most improbable cold-war fighter, the de Havilland Mosquito.  The Javelin was the last aircraft to bear the Gloster name, the company absorbed into the morass created by the mergers, acquisitions and nationalization that befell British industry between Attlee and Thatcher. 

In aviation, the delta shape pre-dated aircraft by centuries, triangular stabilizing fins for rockets described in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the first lifting wing in delta form patented in 1867 for use by a dart-shaped, rocket-propelled airplane.  However, although there were prototypes and much theoretical work was done during the first half of the twentieth century, it wasn’t until the late-1940s when jet propulsion made possible high-speed subsonic and supersonic flight that it was possible to build airframes which could take advantages of the delta-wing’s unique properties.

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (1963-1999).  A product of Lockheed’s Skunk Works, although in development as a high-altitude interceptor since 1959, the US government didn’t admit the SR-71 existed until 1964 and decided ultimately to use it for reconnaissance and research into supersonic flight.  The SR-71 in 1976 set the world record for the fastest flight by an air-breathing manned aircraft and the mark still stands.

The delta form offers structural advantages and aerodynamic characteristics suited to the fluid dynamics of airflow in supersonic conditions.  To suit different applications, design variations have evolved, with and without additional stabilizing surfaces.  The long root chord of the delta wing and minimal structure outboard is inherently structurally efficient, able to be built stronger and stiffer yet lighter than a swept wing of equivalent lifting capability.  It’s thus simple and relatively inexpensive to build.

Avro Vulcan (1956-1984).

Until the UK adopted the submarine-launched Polaris missile system, the Vulcan was the platform for the UK’s independent nuclear deterrent and it remained in service long enough to be deployed for its only combat mission, a flight of five aircraft used for (conventional bombing) missions during the 1982 Falklands War.  Each aircraft flew almost 4000 miles  (6,500 km) from Ascension Island, Victor tankers used for the air-to-air refueling, almost 1.1 million gallons (5 million litres ) of fuel burned each mission.

The long root chord also allows a deeper structure for a given aerofoil section, providing more internal volume for fuel and other storage without a significant increase in drag although, on supersonic designs, designers often take the opportunity to use a thinner aerofoil instead, thereby further reducing drag.  Usefully, the large root chord also provides a large surface area which assists in reducing the minimum speed; a low landing speed being a design objective in most military and civil applications.  Delta wings can be designed to induce vortex lift, so flow separation can be turned into a means of increasing lift and the whole structure is naturally stable in pitch, therefore not requiring a separate tail surface.

Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde (1969-2003).

The Anglo-French supersonic passenger jet operated commercially between 1976-2003.  Flying at twice the speed of sound and carrying up to 128 passengers, it was the longest lasting of its time, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 in passenger service only for a few years during the 1970s after which it operated both as a freighter and a research platform and the American SST never progressed beyond engineering mock-ups.  The Americans worked out the economics were never going to make sense; the Soviets had a different relationship to money and the Concorde lasted as long as it did only because the French & British governments wrote-off the development costs.

There are drawbacks.  The large wing area creates more viscous drag for the same amount of lift compared to a high aspect ratio wing; swept wings have a better lift-to-drag ratio than deltas.  Also, high-lift devices like fowler flaps are hard to integrate into delta wings with the rearward location of the trailing edge producing intolerable pitching moments when such flaps would be deflected.  In short, delta wings are superior only in supersonic flight; their best known design probably the Anglo-French Concorde.

Lindsay Lohan in delta skirts.

A delta skirt is characterized by its triangular shape, an allusion to the Greek letter delta (Δ); almost always, a delta skirt is fitted at the waist, flaring out towards the hem, creating the triangular silhouette.  The concept is adaptable and can be made from just about any fabric, the most popular including cotton, taffeta, silk and a variety of other synthetics.  Delta skirts tend to be shorter because to produce the triangular effect as length increases either some sort of internal structure is required or additional material needs to be used, increasing bulk and weight.  Although most associated with younger women, they have been adopted by a number sub-sets from the anime aesthetic, Goths and bohemians to hippies.

Pit

Pit (pronounced pit)

(1) A naturally formed or excavated hole or cavity in the ground.

(2) A covered or concealed excavation in the ground, serving as a trap for animals.

(3) In extractive mining, an excavation made in exploring for or removing a mineral deposit (also known (at scale) as “open-cut” as opposed to “underground” (although in casual use sometime used also of the mineshafts used in underground operations.  It can in mining slang also refer to an entire mine site, regardless of the mode of extraction.

(4) The stone of a fruit (cherry, peach, plum etc) and technically, the hard, inner layer (the endocarp) of certain drupes.

(5) The abode of evil spirits and lost souls; hell; the depths of Hades.

(6) In slang (as “the pits”) an extremely unpleasant, boring, or depressing place, condition, person, etc; the absolute worst (used also as a clipping of armpits).

(7) A hollow or indentation in a surface (in substances like glass or when referring to surfaces (paint, varnish etc), treated usually as an imperfection).

(8) In physiology, natural hollow or depression in the body, organ, structure or part; fossa (used most often of the small of the back).

(9) In medicine, a small, indented scar, as one of at the site of a former pustule after smallpox, chicken pox or similar diseases; a pockmark.

(10) In music, a section of the marching band containing mallet percussion instruments and other large percussion instruments too large to march, such as the tam tam; the area on the sidelines where these instruments are placed.

(11) In botany, any of various small areas in a plant cell wall that remain un-thickened when the rest of the cell becomes lignified (used especially of the vascular tissue).

(12) In archaeology, a hole or trench in the ground, excavated according to grid coordinates, so that the provenance of any feature observed and any specimen or artifact revealed may be established by precise measurement.

(13) An enclosure, usually below the level of the spectators, as for staging fights between dogs, cocks, or, formerly, bears (as cockpit later extended to aircraft, cars, boats etc).

(14) In physical markets (such as a commodity exchange), a part of the floor of the exchange where trading is conducted (known in some places as “as open outcry pits” because transactions were done by traders shouting offers & acceptances at each other).

(15) In architecture, all that part of the main floor of a theater behind the musicians (in UK use also the main floor of a theater behind the stalls); sometimes used as “orchestra pit” (the area that is occupied by the orchestra in a theatre, located in front of the stage)

(16) In a hoist-way, a space below the level of the lowest floor served.

(17) In motorsport, an area at the side of a track, for servicing and refueling the cars (the use later adopted by cycle racing).

(18) In ten-pin bowling, the sunken area of a bowling alley behind the pins, for the placement or recovery of pins that have been knocked down.

(19) In track athletics,  the area forward of the takeoff point in a jumping event, as the broad jump or pole vault, that is filled with sawdust or soft earth to lessen the force of the jumper's landing.

(20) In casinos, the area or room containing gambling tables.

(21) In aviation, the part of the aircraft (usually the bottom of the fuselage) given over to freight; a luggage hold.

(22) In American football, the center of the line.

(23) In hospital slang, the emergency department.

(24) Literally, the bottom part (lowest point) of something; figuratively an undesirable location (especially if dirty, dangerous etc).

(25) In military slang, a bed (some evidence also of civilian (presumably ex-military) use).

(26) In nuclear physics, the core of an implosion nuclear weapon, consisting of the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it.

(27) To mark or indent with pits or depressions.

(28) In medicine, to scar with pockmarks.

(29) In physiology (of body tissue) temporarily to retain a mark of pressure, as by a finger, instrument, etc.

(30) To place or bury something in a pit, as for storage.

(31) To set in opposition or combat, as one against another (usually in the forms “pit against” or “pitted against”).

(32) In motorsport, to exit from the track, entering the pits, to permit the pit-crew to effect a pit-stop.

(33) To remove the stone of a fruit (cherry, peach, or plum), sometimes with the use of a pitter (if something done vocationally, by a pitter, usually with the use of a pitter).

Pre 900: From the Middle English noun pit, pittle, pite, pute, put & putte, from the Old English pytt (natural or man-made depression in the ground, water hole, well; grave (the Kentish variation was “pet”), from the Proto-West Germanic puti, from the Proto-Germanic putt- (pool, puddle) which was the source also of the Old Frisian pet, the Old Saxon putti, the Old Norse pyttr, the Middle Dutch putte, the Dutch put, the Old High German pfuzza and the German Pfütze (pool, puddle), an early borrowing from Latin puteus (pit, trench, shaft) (etymologists noting the phonetic difficulties which exist also in the speculated relationship between puteus and the primitive Indo-European root pau- (to cut, strike, stamp).  Because the short u makes it unlikely puteus was from paviō (to strike), it might instead be linked to putāre (to prune) but the distance between the meanings makes etymologists just as sceptical and some suggest puteus may be a loanword though the spelling might be mysterious.  The use in the context of stone fruit was an Americanism dating from 1841, from the Dutch pet (kernel, seed, marrow), from the Middle Dutch pitte & pit (kernel, core (and cognate with pith)), from the Proto-Germanic pittan (the dialectal German Pfitze (pimple) was an oblique of the Proto-Germanic piþō), from the Proto-Germanic pithan- (source of pith).  Like the use in other contexts, each instance of the verb was derivative of the noun.  Pit is a noun & verb, pitter is a noun and pitted & pitting are verbs; the noun plural is pits.

Ford GT40 pit-stop, Sebring 12 Hours, International Championship for Makes, Sebring, March 1966.

The meaning “abode of evil spirits, hell” dates from the late twelfth century, one of the many means in the medieval world of referring to hell.  The meaning “very small depression or dent in the surface of an object” was in use by the early 1400s, the anatomical sense of “natural depression or hollow in some part of the body” from more than a century earlier.  The “pit of the stomach” was in the literature by the 1650s and it was so-called from the slight depression there between the ribs; the earlier terms used by doctors were the late fourteenth century breast-pit and heart-pit from circa 1300.  The meaning “part of a theater on the floor of the house, lower than the stage” was known by the 1640s while in market trading, the sense of “that part of the floor of an exchange where business is carried on” was first documented in 1903 as a coining in US English.

One of the high-water marks of the analog era: cockpit of the Anglo-French Concorde.

The phrase money-pit in the sense of “an edifice or project requiring constant outlay of cash with little to show for it” is quite modern, dating only from 1986 and assumed derived from the popular movie of the same name of the same name released that year (though it’s not impossible it had earlier been in regional use).  The prior use had been in the 1930s when it was used of the shaft on Oak Island, Nova Scotia which legend suggested would lead one to treasure buried by Captain Kidd or some other pirate.  Popular Mechanics magazine in September noted wryly the term might better refer to the millions spent trying to get the treasure out than the hoard of gold itself and in 2022, entrepreneurial engineer Elon Musk (b 1971) produced a variation, describing the factories in Europe building the electric Tesla cars as “money furnaces”.  The ash-pit (repository for ashes, especially the lower part of a furnace) dates from 1797 and it replaced the earlier (1640s) ash-hole, reflecting the implications of industrialization as forges and furnaces grew larger.  The venomous snake the pit-viper was so-named in 1872 because of the characteristic depression between the eyes and nose.  In commercial forestry, the pit-saw was first described in the 1670s, referring to a large saw operated by two men, one (the pit-sawyer) standing in the pit below the log being sawed, the other (the top-sawyer) standing atop.  Pitman was one of a wealth of vocationally-derived surnames which began to appear late in the twelfth century and it referred to one who dwelled literally “in or by a pit or hollow”, the use to describe someone who “works in a pit or mine” not documented until 1761.  Pitman shorthand, a popular form of hand-written transcription of spoken-word text which could later be read by a typist (often the “shorthand-taker) came into use in the 1860s, having been devised by English teacher & publisher (and devoted vegetarian) Sir Isaac Pitman (1813-1897) in 1837.  The phrase “flea-pit” dates from the 1920s and was used of cinemas, an allusion to the seats being infested with fleas or other bugs.

A Lindsay Lohan pit-stop from the blooper tape, Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005).

The noun armpit was a mid-fourteenth century description of the “hollow place under the shoulder” and it ran in parallel with the earlier arm-hole although the latter use faded as it came to be used of clothing and as an anatomical descriptor it was obsolete by the mid seventeenth century.  There was also the early fifteenth century asselle, from the Old French asselle, from the Latin axilla but armpit prevailed.  The colloquial phrase “armpit of the nation” was used as a term of derision for any place thought ugly and disgusting and it’s not clear when it emerged but it was well-documented from the early 1960s.  The general term “the pits” was a variation and from late in the twentieth century applied to anything or anyone thought the worse possible of their type (ie based on something hairy, smelly and ugly).  Infamously, it was used by the US tennis player John McEnroe (b 1959) who at Wimbledon in 1981 called an umpire “the pits of the world” during one of their discussions.  The noun pitter (curved instrument for removing stones from cherries and other fruit” appeared in 1868 when pitters were made available as a commercial product (doubtlessly they had for centuries been improvised or adapted from other utensils) and where they were used vocationally, the user was also called a pitter, the same linguistic process which produced the dual use of shucker in the oyster business (the termed adopted also by others).  Pit-a-pat & pitter-pat, being imitative, are wholly unrelated and date from the 1520s, the noun emerging in 1580.

Boeing 787 Dreamliner cockpit.

The original cockpits were first described in the 1580s and were a “pit or enclosed space for fighting cocks”, the use soon extended to any space in which animals were set to fight to the death, the audience betting on the outcome.  From this came the verb use “to pit against” which meant “to put or set in or into a pit” and this soon extended to boxing; by the eighteenth century in figurative use it was used on any conflict, argument or rivalry.  The general verb use (make pits in; form a small pit or hollow) had been in used (as pit, pitted & pitting) by the late fifteenth century.  The dog breed pit-bull dates from 1922 and was short for pit-bull terrier (first registered in 1912), a type noted for its aggression a fighting abilities.  Cockpit was used of ships early in the eighteenth century of midshipmen's compartment below decks and in some cases was later applied also to the enclosed cabins located towards the centre of the deck began to replace the steerage systems at the stern (later universally known as the “bridge”.  It was picked up for the pilot’s compartment in aircraft in 1914 and (by extension) was used in racing cars in the 1930s.  The word cesspit was created in the 1860s because advances in plumbing meant something was needed to distinguish more modern systems handling sewerage from the earlier cesspool, in use since the 1670s.  The mid fourteenth century pitfall (concealed hole into which a person or animal may fall unawares) was a description of a physical danger which came into figurative in the early 1600s to refer to “any hidden danger or concealed source of disaster.  In mining, a pitfall could also be literally a collapse of the internal structure of a mineshaft, sometime because of the catastrophic failure of pit-props (the timbers which provided the structural integrity of a shaft).  Sometimes a mile or more deep, pitfalls frequently were fatal and the death-toll among miners was high, the phrase “pit-hell” often heard.

The original pits at the Indianapolis Speedway, 1913. 

It was difficult and expensive (and often impossible) to lift heavy machinery to allow mechanics to work on engines or other components so, where possible, it was better to construct a pit underneath from which people could work.  The concept was well documented in workshops by 1839 and the term was by 1912 picked up in motorsport to describe the “area at the side of a track where cars are serviced and repaired” and the early pits were often holes in the ground with waist-high surrounds in which the crew could stand.  They were used also to store spare tyres, parts lubricants etc.  As the sport boomed, the pits quickly became fully enclosed service areas and even garages, built along pit-lane.  When a driver brought his car into the pits (located on the stretch of track called pit-straight), they were said to be pitting to be worked on by the pit crew who might during the pit-stop make repairs, re-fuel or change tyres, either in front of or behind the pit-wall.  Pit crew became a popular term beyond the tracks, used of airline baggage handlers, sea-port staff etc.  In motorsport, a pit-babe is an attractive young lady who is in the pit area for some reason, not necessarily directly related to the competition.

The pit-babes: coming or going, they always look good.