cockpit
noun /ˈkɒkpɪt/
/ˈkɑːkpɪt/
enlarge imagethe area in a plane, boat or racing car where the pilot or driver sitsTopics Transport by waterc1, Transport by airc1
enlarge imageOxford Collocations DictionaryCockpit is used before these nouns:- instrument
Word Originlate 16th cent. relating to a pit where cockfights are held: from cock + pit ‘a hole in the ground’. The current sense dates from the early 20th cent. and derives from an early 18th-cent. nautical term denoting an area in the aft lower deck of a man-of-war where the wounded were taken, later coming to mean ‘the “pit” or well from which a yacht is steered’; hence the place housing the controls of other vehicles.
