circle pit

English

WOTD – 27 August 2021

Etymology

People dancing in a circle pit at a concert of the Dutch alternative rock band De Staat at the Zwarte Cross Festival in 2016.

From circle +‎ pit, modelled after mosh pit.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜɹkəl ˌpɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cir‧cle pit

Noun

circle pit (plural circle pits)

1. (dance, music) A dance at a concert where participants mosh in a circular path, leaving the centre clear.
   • 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:

     Call Me in the Morning also fuses old and new, referencing the Rolling Stones' Paint It Black while swimming in Auto-Tune. The circle pit then swirls anew for Open the Till, which features a yellable chorus and more gnomic Skinnerisms. "You make ends meet," he [Mike Skinner] notes, "then they move the ends."

Related terms

• mosh pit

Translations

kind of mosh pit in which the participants follow a circular path

Further reading

• moshing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia