English
pitch
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /pɪt͡ʃ/
Etymology 1

From Middle English picche, piche, pich, from Old English piċ, from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin pix.

Noun

pitch

  1. A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; sap.
    It is hard to get this pitch off my hand.
  2. 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.
  3. (geology) Pitchstone.
Translations Translations Verb

pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)

  1. To cover or smear with pitch.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 6:14 ↗:
      “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
  2. 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.
Adjective

pitch (comparative pitcher, superlative pitchest)

  1. Very dark black; pitch-black.
  2. (of a, black color) Intense, deep, dark.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:pitchest-black.
Etymology 2

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.

Noun

pitch (plural pitches)

  1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
    a good pitch in quoits
  2. (baseball) The act of pitching a baseball.
    The pitch was low and inside.
  3. (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.
  4. (golf) A short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.
  5. (rare) The field of battle.
  6. An effort to sell or promote something.
    He gave me a sales pitch.
  7. 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.
  8. The angle at which an object sits.
    the pitch of the roof or haystack
  9. The rotation angle about the transverse axis.
    1. (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
    2. (aviation) A measure of the angle of attack of a propeller.
      The propeller blades' pitch went to 90° as the engine was feathered.
  10. An area in a market (or similar) allocated to a particular trader.
  11. (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 […]
  12. An area on a campsite intended for occupation by a single tent, caravan or similar.
  13. 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 […]
  14. 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.
  15. The most thrust-out point of a headland or cape.
  16. (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:
  17. The height a bird reaches in flight, especially a bird of prey preparing to swoop down on its prey.
  18. (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
  19. 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.
  20. (climbing) A section of a climb or rock face; specifically, the climbing distance between belays or stances.
  21. (caving) A vertical cave passage, only negotiable by using rope or ladders.
    The entrance pitch requires 30 metres of rope.
  22. (cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.
  23. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
  24. 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
  25. (mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)

  1. (transitive) To throw.
    He pitched the horseshoe.
  2. (transitive or intransitive, baseball) To throw (the ball) toward a batter at home plate.
    The hurler pitched a curveball.
    He pitched high and inside.
  3. (intransitive, baseball) To play baseball in the position of pitcher.
    Bob pitches today.
  4. (transitive) To throw away; discard.
    He pitched the candy wrapper.
  5. (transitive) To promote, advertise, or attempt to sell.
    He pitched the idea for months with no takers.
  6. (transitive) To deliver in a certain tone or style, or with a certain audience in mind.
    At which level should I pitch my presentation?
  7. (transitive) To assemble or erect (a tent). Also used figuratively.
    Pitch the tent over there.
  8. (intransitive) To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Genesis 31:25 ↗:
      Laban with his brethren pitched in the Mount of Gilead.
  9. (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.
  10. (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.
  11. (intransitive, cricket) To bounce on the playing surface.
    The ball pitched well short of the batsman.
  12. (intransitive, Bristol, of snow) To settle and build up, without melting.
  13. (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
  14. (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.
    • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC ↗, phase the first (The Maiden), page 53 ↗:
      "'Tis very unlucky that we didn't pitch on a sound one, when there were so many more of 'em!"
  15. (intransitive) To plunge or fall; especially, to fall forward; to decline or slope.
    to pitch from a precipice
    The field pitches toward the east.
  16. (transitive) To set, face, or pave (an embankment or roadway) with rubble or undressed stones.
  17. (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.
  18. (transitive, card games, slang) To discard (a card) for some gain.
  19. To attack, or position or assemble for attack.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

pitch

  1. (music, phonetics) The perceived frequency of a sound or note.
    The pitch of middle "C" is familiar to many musicians.
  2. (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?
  3. (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.
Translations Verb

pitch (pitches, present participle pitching; simple past and past participle pitched)

  1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To fix or set the tone of.
Translations

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