pitch¹ Definition
pitch (pic̸h)
noun
- a black, sticky substance formed in the distillation of coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc. and used for waterproofing, roofing, pavements, etc.
- any of certain bitumens, as asphalt, asphaltite, etc.
- a resin found in certain evergreen trees
- any of various synthetic substances having pitchlike properties
Etymology: ME pich < OE pic < L pix (gen. picis) < IE base *pi-, to be fat > fat
transitive verb
to cover or smear with or as with pitch
pitch² Definition
pitch (pic̸h)
transitive verb
- to set up; erect pitch a tent
- to throw; cast, fling, or toss
- to toss (coins, quoits, etc.) as at a mark in a contest
- to discard by throwing; throw away
- to set in order for battle: obsolete except in pitched battle
- to fix or set at a particular point, level, degree, etc.
- Informal to try to sell using persuasive talk or advertising
- ☆ Baseball
- to throw (the ball) to the batter
- to assign (a player) to pitch
- to serve as pitcher for (a game, inning, etc.)
- Golf to loft (a ball), esp. in making an approach
- Music to determine or set the key of (a tune, an instrument, or the voice)
Etymology: ME picchen, ? form of picken, to pick
intransitive verb
- to encamp
- to take up one's position; settle
- to hurl or toss anything, as hay, a baseball, etc.
- to fall or plunge headlong
- to incline downward; dip
- to plunge or toss with the bow and stern rising and falling abruptly: said of a ship
- to move in a like manner in the air: said of an aircraft
- to plunge forward; lurch, as when off balance
- to act as pitcher in a ballgame
- to loft a golf ball, as in making an approach
noun
- act or manner of pitching
- a throw; fling; toss; specif., a throw by a pitcher to a batter
- the rising and falling of the bow and stern of a ship in a rough sea
- the movement up or down of the nose and tail of an airplane
- anything pitched
- the amount pitched
- a point or degree emotion was at a high pitch
- the degree of slope or inclination
- ☆ a card game of the all-fours family in which the suit of the first card led becomes trump
- ☆ Informal a line of talk, such as a salesman uses to persuade customers
- Brit.
- a playing field a cricket pitch
- a place, often assigned, for pitching a tent or parking a trailer, etc.
- a place where a street vendor, street performer, racecourse bookmaker, etc. sets up his stand
- Aeron.
- the adjustable blade angle of the propeller or rotor blade
- the distance advanced by a propeller in one revolution
- Archit. the slope of the sides of a roof, expressed by the ratio of its height to its span
- Geol., Mining the dip of a stratum or vein
- Golf a short, lofted shot, usually to the green
- Machinery
- the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent gear teeth
- the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent threads of a screw, measured along the axis
- Music, Acoustics that element of a tone or sound determined by the frequency of vibration of the sound waves reaching the ear: the greater the frequency, the higher the pitch
- Music a tone used as a standard of pitch for tuning instruments
pitch² Idioms
in there pitching
☆Informal working hard and enthusiastically
make a pitch for
☆Slang to speak in favor or promotion of
pitch in
Informal- to set to work energetically
- to make a contribution
pitch into
Informal- to attack physically or verbally
- to set to work on energetically
pitch on
or pitch uponto select; decide on
pitch Synonyms
pitch
n.
Slope
slant, incline, angle; see grade 1, inclination 5.A throw
toss, fling, hurl, heave, cast, pitched ball, ball, strike, delivery, offering*, the old apple*. Musical frequency
frequency of vibration, rate of vibration, tone; see sound 2.Standards of pitch include: concert, classic, high, low, international, French, Stuttgart, philharmonic, philosophical.
A viscous liquid
make a pitch for*
pitch Synonyms
pitch
v.
pitch Usage Examples
Object
tent: A wall can be built in the time it takes to pitch a tent.
Converse of object
- descend: At the far end of the chamber, and between blocks, descends a 23 m pitch.
- invade: Within seconds of Mr Courtney signaling it was all over, Burnley players disappeared under a sea of fans who invaded the pitch.
Adjective modifier
- all-weather: Fred Riddell, said he was particularly disappointed at having to take money ear-marked for all-weather sports pitches.
- synthetic: A new synthetic sports pitch for Clarence Park was also agreed.
- waterlogged: The Peterborough game has been called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
- 10m: From the chamber a short climb up led to a 10m pitch.
- 20m: Back at the top of the 20m pitch a steep ramp leads up on the right.
- artificial: Which club was the first to install an artificial pitch?
Modifies a noun
- blackness: The French made fifteen charges, the final one in pitch blackness, but all were subject to disorganization and showers of arrows.
- pine: The gallery was added in 1837 and the interior of the church paneled in pitch pine in 1888.
- invasion: The police even thought that the cries from help on the terrace were the starts of a pitch invasion.
- accent: Pitch and stress: Japanese is only minimally semantically tonal, tho the majority of dialects have a word pitch accent.
- darkness: More dim light -- almost blinding, after the pitch darkness -- creeps through.
Noun used with modifier
- football: We were pitched on a sandy football pitch, which belonged to a local school.
- cricket: The low arched entrance faced across the cricket pitch.
- fever: The poll tax raised awareness of local taxation to fever pitch for a few years.
- turf: Harthill Royal currently has 5 aside astro turf pitch, which incurs a charge to use the facility.
- hockey: The gardens include a natural lake and orchard as well as tennis courts and a hockey pitch.
- rugby: There are also some additional rugby pitches provided within schools.
Browse dictionary entries near pitch
- pitch-black ›
- pitch circle ›
- pitch-dark ›
- pitch in ›
- pitch into ›
- pitch pine ›
- pitch pipe ›
- pitchblende ›
- pitched battle ›
- pitcher ›

