cockpit

[ kok-pit ]

noun

1. a space, usually enclosed, in the forward fuselage of an airplane containing the flying controls, instrument panel, and seats for the pilot and copilot or flight crew.
2. a sunken, open area, generally in the after part of a small vessel, as a yacht, providing space for the pilot, part or all of the crew, or guests.
3. the space, including the seat and instrumentation, surrounding the driver of an automobile.
4. a pit or enclosed place for cockfights.
5. a place where a contest is fought or which has been the scene of many contests or battles.
6. (formerly) a space below the water line in a warship, occupied by the quarters of the junior officers and used as a dressing station for those wounded in action.

cockpit

/ ˈkɒkˌpɪt /

noun

1. the compartment in a small aircraft in which the pilot, crew, and sometimes the passengers sit Compare flight deck
2. the driver's compartment in a racing car
3. nautical
   1. an enclosed or recessed area towards the stern of a small vessel from which it is steered
   2. (formerly) an apartment in a warship used as quarters for junior officers and as a first-aid station during combat
4. the site of numerous battles or campaigns
5. an enclosure used for cockfights

Word History and Origins

Origin of cockpit¹

First recorded in 1580–90; cock ¹ + pit ¹

Example Sentences

The cockpit insulation performance was 10% higher than the standards at the time because the pores in the insulating foam were 40% smaller, reaching a micrometer scale.

From TechCrunch

Airplane cockpits and ship bridges may share certain information and action features but were not historically described as dashboards.

From Washington Post

A plane called Solar Impulse 2 went around the world over 14 months, but it could only hold the pilot in an unheated, unpressurized phone-booth-size cockpit whose single seat doubled as a toilet.

From Washington Post

It has no cockpit because, obviously, it has no need of a pilot.

From Singularity Hub 

A series of small fires gave Yeager nightmares about being trapped in the cockpit surrounded by flames and unable to escape.

From Popular-Science

And increasingly smart navigation aids in the cockpit brought far greater precision and efficiency to route planning.

From The Daily Beast

I believe there was a captain aboard, but Hughes kept throwing him out of the cockpit.

From The Daily Beast

He would navigate from the cockpit using a road atlas—while snorting cocaine off the map.

From The Daily Beast

You will feel both embarrassed and grateful for this, even as you wonder why the cockpit looks like a 1950s sci-fi set.

From The Daily Beast

Some airline chiefs believe that there was an invasion of the cockpit.

From The Daily Beast

George, duke of Albemarle, captain-general of his majesty's forces, died at the cockpit.

From Project Gutenberg

The yacht nearly broached to, while the next oncoming wave broke fairly aboard, filling the cockpit half-full of water.

From Project Gutenberg

Then a wave would come aboard astern, rolling in and nearly filling the cockpit.

From Project Gutenberg

A very important fitting is a hatch by which the cockpit can be completely covered in in heavy weather.

From Project Gutenberg

The last occasion on which any part of Belgium, so long the 'Cockpit of Europe,' had a glimpse of war was in the autumn of 1870.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cabin
• compartment