adit

Borrowed from Latin aditus (“entrance, access”), from ad (“to, up to”) + itus (“going, departure”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈæ.dɪt/

adit (plural adits)

1. A horizontal or nearly horizontal passage from the surface into a mine, as contrasted with a shaft or vertical entry passage. An adit may be used for ventilation, haulage, drainage, or other purposes.

   Coordinate terms: shaft, mineshaft; portal

   • 2006, Mike Hetman, IronMiners.com [1]:

     The Old Mine is currently entered through an upper adit as the main is no longer accessible.

   • 2008, Iain M. Banks, Matter, page 445:

     The adit sloped downwards into the bowels of some long-fallen building, following a passage that had silted up when the city had first been buried.

• “adit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• ITAD, DITA, dati

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [əˈðit]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [aˈðit]

adit (feminine adita, masculine plural adits, feminine plural adites)

1. past participle of adir-se

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈa.dɪt]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.d̪it̪]

adit

1. third-person singular present active indicative of adeō