pit stop

pit stop

1. A stop during an auto race to repair or refuel the racing vehicle. With only three laps left, he'll have to decide whether to make a pit stop or try to reach the finish without running out of gas.

2. A short stop taken during a car trip to eat, rest, and/or refuel. I knew it was going to be a long drive from New York to Florida, so I planned several pit stops along the way to give myself a break.

See also: pit, stop

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

pit stop

1. n. a pause in a journey (usually by car) to urinate. (From the name of a service stop in automobile racing.) I think we’ll pull in at the next rest area. I need a pit stop.

2. n. an underarm deodorant. (Because it stops armpit odor.) Can I borrow your pit stop? I need it bad.

See also: pit, stop

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

pit stop

A brief rest stop for refreshment or bathroom use. From the first half of the 1800s, “pit” meant, among other things, a place where engines were repaired or maintained. Later the term “pit stop” was adopted in automobile racing, where it denoted a trackside place for refueling or some other service. Still later, the term was extended to mean such a stop, especially during an automobile trip. It also began to be used figuratively. Thus Mike Lawson had it in House Secrets (2009), “Then off to the Senate he flew, and the Senate, all the commentators concurred, was but a pit stop on his race to the Oval Office.”

See also: pit, stop

The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer