pitch

noun

1. a black, sticky substance formed in the distillation of coal tar, wood tar, petroleum, etc. and used for waterproofing, roofing, pavements, etc.
2. any of certain bitumens, as asphalt, asphaltite, etc.
3. a resin found in certain evergreen trees
4. 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

transitive verb

1. to set up; erect pitch a tent
2. to throw; cast, fling, or toss
3. 1. to toss (coins, quoits, etc.) as at a mark in a contest
   2. to discard by throwing; throw away
4. to set in order for battle: obsolete except in pitched battle
5. to fix or set at a particular point, level, degree, etc.
6. Informal to try to sell using persuasive talk or advertising
7. ☆ Baseball
   1. to throw (the ball) to the batter
   2. to assign (a player) to pitch
   3. to serve as pitcher for (a game, inning, etc.)
8. Golf to loft (a ball), esp. in making an approach
9. 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

1. to encamp
2. to take up one's position; settle
3. to hurl or toss anything, as hay, a baseball, etc.
4. to fall or plunge headlong
5. to incline downward; dip
6. to plunge or toss with the bow and stern rising and falling abruptly: said of a ship
7. to move in a like manner in the air: said of an aircraft
8. to plunge forward; lurch, as when off balance
9. to act as pitcher in a ballgame
10. to loft a golf ball, as in making an approach

noun

1. act or manner of pitching
2. a throw; fling; toss; specif., a throw by a pitcher to a batter
3. 1. the rising and falling of the bow and stern of a ship in a rough sea
   2. the movement up or down of the nose and tail of an airplane
4. anything pitched
5. the amount pitched
6. a point or degree emotion was at a high pitch
7. the degree of slope or inclination
8. ☆ a card game of the all-fours family in which the suit of the first card led becomes trump
9. ☆ Informal a line of talk, such as a salesman uses to persuade customers
10. Brit.
    1. a playing field a cricket pitch
    2. a place, often assigned, for pitching a tent or parking a trailer, etc.
    3. a place where a street vendor, street performer, racecourse bookmaker, etc. sets up his stand
11. Aeron.
    1. the adjustable blade angle of the propeller or rotor blade
    2. the distance advanced by a propeller in one revolution
12. Archit. the slope of the sides of a roof, expressed by the ratio of its height to its span
13. Geol., Mining the dip of a stratum or vein
14. Golf a short, lofted shot, usually to the green
15. Machinery
    1. the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent gear teeth
    2. the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent threads of a screw, measured along the axis
16. 1. 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
    2. Music a tone used as a standard of pitch for tuning instruments