Other forms: cesspits
A cesspit is a pit for household waste and sewage. Empty the cesspit, a leaking cesspit, fall into the cesspit.
A true cesspit is sealed and must be emptied by tanker, unlike a septic tank, which treats and discharges. The figurative use is common and vicious, since calling a place a cesspit says everything foul has collected there.
1nouncesspitA pit for household waste and sewage.
“The old cottage had no mains drainage, just a cesspit at the bottom of the garden.”
cesspit is a pit.
The second part is pit; the first is the same uncertain cess as in cesspool.
unknown. The first part, cess-, is undoubtedly the same as for cesspool, whose origin is likewise uncertain. The second part is pit, a hole in the ground.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA