pitch
Pronunciation
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.005
Pronunciation
- IPA: /pɪt͡ʃ/
From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix.
Nounpitch
- A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; sap.
- It is hard to get this pitch off my hand.
- A dark, extremely viscous material still remaining after distilling crude oil and tar.
- They put pitch on the mast to protect it.
- The barrel was sealed with pitch.
- It was pitch black because there was no moon.
- (geology) Pitchstone.
- French: résine, sève, poix
- German: Harz, Pech
- Italian: resina, pece
- Portuguese: seiva, breu
- Russian: смола́
- Spanish: brea, pez
- French: poix, brai
- German: Pech
- Italian: pece, bitume, catrame
- Portuguese: piche, pez, breu
- Russian: дёготь
- Spanish: pez
pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)
- To cover or smear with pitch.
- To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
- 1704 (published), year written unknown, John Dryden, On the Death of Amyntas
- Soon he found / The welkin pitch'd with sullen clouds.
- 1704 (published), year written unknown, John Dryden, On the Death of Amyntas
pitch (comparative pitcher, superlative pitchest)
- Very dark black; pitch-black.
- (of a, black color) Intense, deep, dark.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:pitchest-black.
From Middle English picchen, pycchen, from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, whence Middle English pikken, picken, modern English pick.
Nounpitch (plural pitches)
- A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
- a good pitch in quoits
(baseball) The act of pitching a baseball. - The pitch was low and inside.
- (sports, UK, Australia, NZ) The field on which cricket, soccer, rugby, gridiron or field hockey is played. (In cricket, the pitch is in the centre of the field; see cricket pitch.) (Not often used in the US or Canada, where "field" is the preferred word.)
- The teams met on the pitch.
- (golf) A short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.
- (rare) The field of battle.
- An effort to sell or promote something.
- He gave me a sales pitch.
- The distance between evenly spaced objects, e.g. the teeth of a saw or gear, the turns of a screw thread, the centres of holes, or letters in a monospace font.
- The pitch of pixels on the point scale is 72 pixels per inch.
- The pitch of this saw is perfect for that type of wood.
- A helical scan with a pitch of zero is equivalent to constant z-axis scanning.
- The angle at which an object sits.
- the pitch of the roof or haystack
- The rotation angle about the transverse axis.
- (nautical, aviation) The degree to which a vehicle, especially a ship or aircraft, rotates on such an axis, tilting its bow or nose up or down. Compare with roll, yaw, and heave.
- the pitch of an aircraft
- (aviation) A measure of the angle of attack of a propeller.
- The propeller blades' pitch went to 90° as the engine was feathered.
- (nautical, aviation) The degree to which a vehicle, especially a ship or aircraft, rotates on such an axis, tilting its bow or nose up or down. Compare with roll, yaw, and heave.
- An area in a market (or similar) allocated to a particular trader.
- (by extension) The place where a busker performs, a prostitute solicits clients, or an illegal gambling game etc. is set up before the public.
- 1975, Tom A. Cullen, The Prostitutes' Padre, page 94:
- Another reason is that the prostitute who makes her pitch at Marble Arch stands a chance of being picked up by an out-of-town business man stopping at one of the hotels in the vicinity, and of being treated to a steak dinner […]
- An area on a campsite intended for occupation by a single tent, caravan or similar.
- A level or degree, or (by extension), a peak or highest degree.
- September 28, 1710, Joseph Addison, Whig-Examiner No. 2
- He lived at a time when learning was at its highest pitch.
- 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press, published 1973, section 11:
- But, except the mind be disordered by disease or madness, they never can arrive at such a pitch of vivacity
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC ↗:
- In the eyes of Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke the apotheosis of the Celebrity was complete. The people of Asquith were not only willing to attend the house-warming, but had been worked up to the pitch of eagerness.
- 2014, James Booth, Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love, page 190:
- In this poem his 'vernacular' bluster and garish misrhymes build to a pitch of rowdy anarchy […]
- September 28, 1710, Joseph Addison, Whig-Examiner No. 2
- A point or peak; the extreme point of elevation or depression.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
- Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down / Into this deep.
- The most thrust-out point of a headland or cape.
- (obsolete, uncountable) Collectively, the outermost points of some part of the body, especially the shoulders or hips.
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act (please specify |act=I or II), scene i ↗:
- Such breadth of ſhoulders as might mainely beare
Olde Atlas burthen, twixt his manly pitch,
A pearle more worth, then all the world is plaſte:
- The height a bird reaches in flight, especially a bird of prey preparing to swoop down on its prey.
- (now British, regional) A person's or animal's height.
- 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC ↗, partition II, section 3, member 2:
- Alba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame; that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Cæsar of the same pitch […] .
- 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC ↗:
- So like in person, garb, and pitch,
'Twas hard t' interpret which was which
- Prominence; importance.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene i]:
- Enterprises of great pitch and moment.
- (climbing) A section of a climb or rock face; specifically, the climbing distance between belays or stances.
- (caving) A vertical cave passage, only negotiable by using rope or ladders.
- The entrance pitch requires 30 metres of rope.
- (cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.
- A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
- The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant.
- a steep pitch in the road
- the pitch of a roof
- (mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
- French: lancer
- German: Wurf
- Italian: servizio
- Portuguese: arremesso
- Russian: пода́ча
- Spanish: lanzamiento
- French: terrain
- German: Sportplatz
- Italian: campo, pitch
- Portuguese: campo
- Spanish: campo
- French: laïus, argument, présentation, promotion
- German: Verkaufsgespräch
- Italian: promozione, sostegno, lancio
- French: pas, écartement
- German: Teilung, Abstand
- Italian: passo
- Russian: питч
- Spanish: distancia, paso (de rosca o hélice)
- French: inclinaison, angle, pente
- German: Neigung, Steigung
- Italian: inclinazione, pendenza
- Russian: ска́т
- Spanish: declive
- French: tangage
- Portuguese: arfagem
- French: tangage, assiette
- Italian: beccheggio
- Portuguese: passo
- Russian: тангаж
- French: tangage
- Italian: beccheggio
- Russian: дифферент
- French: emplacement
- French: extremum
- French: puits
- French: taille
- French: chute
- French: descente
pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)
- (transitive) To throw.
- He pitched the horseshoe.
- (transitive or intransitive, baseball) To throw (the ball) toward a batter at home plate.
- The hurler pitched a curveball.
- He pitched high and inside.
- (intransitive, baseball) To play baseball in the position of pitcher.
- Bob pitches today.
- (transitive) To throw away; discard.
- He pitched the candy wrapper.
- (transitive) To promote, advertise, or attempt to sell.
- He pitched the idea for months with no takers.
- (transitive) To deliver in a certain tone or style, or with a certain audience in mind.
- At which level should I pitch my presentation?
- (transitive) To assemble or erect (a tent). Also used figuratively.
- Pitch the tent over there.
- (intransitive) To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.
- (ambitransitive, aviation or nautical) To move so that the front of an aircraft or boat goes alternatively up and down.
- The typhoon pitched the deck of the ship.
- The airplane pitched.
- 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, chapter 28, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗, page 136 ↗:
- His bone leg steadied in that hole ; one arm elevated, and holding by a shroud ; Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship's ever-pitching prow.
- (transitive, golf) To play a short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.
- The only way to get on the green from here is to pitch the ball over the bunker.
- (intransitive, cricket) To bounce on the playing surface.
- The ball pitched well short of the batsman.
- (intransitive, Bristol, of snow) To settle and build up, without melting.
- (intransitive, archaic) To alight; to settle; to come to rest from flight.
- 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC ↗:
- the tree whereon they [the bees] pitch
- (with on or upon) To fix one's choice.
- a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Precepts of Christianity not grievous:
- Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the more easy.
- (intransitive) To plunge or fall; especially, to fall forward; to decline or slope.
- to pitch from a precipice
- The field pitches toward the east.
- (transitive) To set, face, or pave (an embankment or roadway) with rubble or undressed stones.
- (transitive) To set or fix (a price or value).
- 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC ↗:
- Whose vultur thought doth pitch the price so hie,
That she will draw his lips rich treasure drie.
- (transitive, card games, slang) To discard (a card) for some gain.
- To attack, or position or assemble for attack.
- French: lancer, jeter
- German: werfen
- Italian: gettare
- Portuguese: arremessar
- Russian: броса́ть
- Spanish: echar, lanzar
- French: lancer
- German: werfen
- Italian: lanciare, servire
- Portuguese: arremessar
- Russian: подава́ть
- Spanish: echar, lanzar
- French: jeter
- German: wegwerfen
- Italian: buttare
- Portuguese: jogar fora; descartar
- French: promouvoir
- German: werben, bewerben
- Italian: promuovere, sostenere
- Portuguese: vender
- Spanish: promover
- French: déclamer
- French: monter
- German: aufschlagen
- Italian: piantare, rizzare
- Portuguese: armar
- Russian: ста́вить
- Spanish: armar, plantar
- French: camper
- German: aufschlagen
- Russian: поста́вить
- French: tanguer
- German: stampfen (of ships), neigen (of aircraft)
- Italian: beccheggiare
- French: arrêter
- French: paver
- French: fixer
pitch
- (music, phonetics) The perceived frequency of a sound or note.
- The pitch of middle "C" is familiar to many musicians.
- (music) The standard to which a group of musical instruments are tuned or in which a piece is performed, usually by reference to the frequency to which the musical note A above middle C is tuned.
- Are we in baroque pitch for this one?
- (music) In an a cappella group, the singer responsible for singing a note for the other members to tune themselves by.
- Bob, our pitch, let out a clear middle "C" and our conductor gave the signal to start.
- French: hauteur (d'un ton)
- German: Tonhöhe, Tonlage
- Italian: altezza, tono, intonazione, timbro
- Portuguese: altura, agudeza, agudez
- Russian: тон
- Spanish: tono, altura, altura tonal
pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)
- (intransitive) To produce a note of a given pitch.
- 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, →OCLC ↗:
- […] now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.
- (transitive) To fix or set the tone of.
- French: donner la note
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.005
