borrow pit

noun

A pit that is dug to extract material (such as soil, gravel, or sand) for use at another location.

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Meanings

nounborrow pit (plural borrow pits)

plural borrow pits

  1. businessA pit that is dug to extract material (such as soil, gravel, or sand) for use at another location.

    No borrow pit excavation was necessary, and 41,000 cu. yd. were removed from cuttings by excavating machines.

    1944 November and December, “Increasing G.W.R. Line Capacity”, in Railway Magazine, page 367
    1 more example

    Material for the embankments—about 300,000 cu. yd. of it—has been obtained from a borrow pit alongside the Nottingham-Grantham road.

    1960 May 28, “Colliery Branch Construction in Nottinghamshire”, in Railway Magazine, page 353
Cite this entry
APA

borrow pit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrow%20pit

MLA

“borrow pit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrow%20pit. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “borrow pit,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/borrow%20pit.

Source: borrow pit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.