pothole

[pot-hohl] /ˈpɒtˌhoʊl/
noun
1.
a deep hole; pit.
2.
a hole formed in pavement, as by excessive use or by extremes of weather.
3.
a more or less cylindrical hole formed in rock by the grinding action of the detrital material in eddying water.
4.
a cave opening vertically from the ground surface.
Origin
1820-30; pot1 + hole
Examples from the web for pothole
  • The cost difference is going to have to be enormous before they'll take a chance on illiterate workers and pothole-filled streets.
  • Whenever a pothole emerges, it is seen as an opportunity to create a garden.
  • As often happens, the road suddenly transforms from a well-paved street to a pothole-ridden nightmare.
  • One driver reported the axle snapped after hitting a pothole.
  • The emulsion and aggregate are mixed in the nozzle and pressure blown into the pothole itself.
  • To survive in a pothole, organisms must endure extreme fluctuations in several environmental factors.
British Dictionary definitions for pothole

pothole

/ˈpɒtˌhəʊl/
noun
1.
(geography)
  1. a deep hole in limestone areas resulting from action by running water See also sinkhole (sense 1)
  2. a circular hole in the bed of a river produced by abrasion
2.
a deep hole, esp one produced in a road surface by wear or weathering
Word Origin and History for pothole
n.

also pot-hole, 1826, originally a geological feature in glaciers and gravel beds, from Middle English pot "a deep hole for a mine, or from peat-digging" (late 14c.), now generally obsolete, but preserved in Scotland and northern England dialect; perhaps ultimately related to pot (n.1) on notion of "deep, cylindrical shape." Applied to a hole in a road from 1909.