pitch

pitch

pitch¹ [pich]

n.

[ME pich < OE pic < L pix (gen. picis) < IE base * pi-, to be fat > FAT]

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

vt.

to cover or smear with or as with pitch

pitch² [pich]

vt.

[ME picchen, ? form of picken, to PICK³]

1. to set up; erect [pitch a tent]

2. to throw; cast, fling, or toss

3.

a) to toss (coins, quoits, etc.) as at a mark in a contest

b) 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

a) to throw (the ball) to the batter

b) to assign (a player) to pitch

c) 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)

vi.

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

n.

1. act or manner of pitching

2. a throw; fling; toss; specif., a throw by a pitcher to a batter

3.

a) the rising and falling of the bow and stern of a ship in a rough sea

b) 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. [Chiefly Brit.]

a) a playing field [a cricket pitch]

b) a place, often assigned, for pitching a tent or parking a trailer, etc.

c) a place where a street vendor, street performer, racecourse bookmaker, etc. sets up his stand

11. Aeron.

a) the adjustable blade angle of the propeller or rotor blade

b) 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

a) the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent gear teeth

b) the distance between corresponding points on two adjacent threads of a screw, measured along the axis

16.

a) 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

b) Music a tone used as a standard of pitch for tuning instruments: see CONCERT PITCH

SYN.- THROW

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☆ in there pitching

Informal working hard and enthusiastically

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☆ make a pitch for

Slang to speak in favor or promotion of

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pitch in Informal

1. to set to work energetically

2. to make a contribution

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pitch into Informal

1. to attack physically or verbally

2. to set to work on energetically

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pitch on or pitch upon

to select; decide on