whirling pits

noun

An unpleasant sensation of spinning after consuming alcohol or other drugs.

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Meanings

nounthe whirling pits pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyslangAn unpleasant sensation of spinning after consuming alcohol or other drugs.

    I ended up with the whirling pits, being sick in the bathroom for hours. It should have put me off booze forever […]

    2000, Alison Pressley, Changing Times: Being Young in Britain in the '60s, page 71
    2 more examples

    I note with interest Paul Dawson's query as to whether or not one's direction of rotation during the alcohol induced phenomenon known as "the whirling pits" depends upon the hemisphere in which one is situated (Letters, 1 September, p 643).

    1983, New Scientist, volume 100, number 1380, page 218

    That hideously addictive, ruinous mix of tobacco and hash, the violently, wrenching, contrasting, simultaneous expansion and depression of the senses can be truly horrible, the whirling pits.

    2001, F. A. Casemore, Skylarks: For Myself, Lest I Forget, or Die Unsung, page 358
Cite this entry
APA

whirling pits. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whirling%20pits

MLA

“whirling pits.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whirling%20pits. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whirling pits,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whirling%20pits.

Source: whirling pits on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.