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pitch

[pich]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used with object)

to erect or set up (a tent, camp, or the like).

to put, set, or plant in a fixed or definite place or position.

to throw, fling, hurl, or toss.

Baseball.

to deliver or serve (the ball) to the batter.

to fill the position of pitcher in (a game): He pitched a no-hitter. He pitched a good game.

to choose or assign as a pitcher for a game: The manager pitched Greene the next night.

to set at a certain point, degree, level, etc.: He pitched his hopes too high.

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Music. to set at a particular pitch, or determine the key or keynote of (a melody).

Cards.

to lead (a card of a particular suit), thereby fixing that suit as trump.

to determine (the trump) in this manner.

to pave or revet with small stones.

Masonry.

to square (a stone), cutting the arrises true with a chisel.

to cut with a chisel.

10.

Informal. to attempt to sell or win approval for; promote; advertise: to pitch breakfast foods at a sales convention.

11.

Informal. to approach or court (as a person, company, or the public) in hope of a sale, approval, or interest; make an appeal to.

12.

to cause to pitch.

13.

Obsolete. to set in order; to arrange, as a field of battle.

14.

Obsolete. to fix firmly as in the ground; embed.

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verb (used without object)

15.

to plunge or fall forward or headlong.

16.

to lurch.

17.

to throw or toss.

18.

Baseball.

to deliver or serve the ball to the batter.

to fill the position of pitcher: He pitched for the Mets last year.

19.

to slope downward; dip.

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20.

to plunge with alternate fall and rise of bow and stern, as a ship (opposed to roll).

21.

(of a rocket or guided missile) to deviate from a stable flight attitude by oscillations of the longitudinal axis in a vertical plane about the center of gravity.

22.

to fix a tent or temporary habitation; encamp: They pitched by a mountain stream.

23.

Golf. to play a pitch shot.

24.

Informal. to attempt to sell or win approval for something or someone by advertising, promotion, etc.: politicians pitching on TV.

25.

Rare. to become established; settle down.

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Pitch is one of our favorite verbs.

So is lollygag. Does it mean:

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

to spend time idly; loaf.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

noun

26.

relative point, position, or degree: a high pitch of excitement.

27.

the degree of inclination or slope; angle: the pitch of an arch; the pitch of a stair.

28.

the highest point or greatest height: enjoying the pitch of success.

29.

(in music, speech, etc.) the degree of height or depth of a tone or of sound, depending upon the relative rapidity of the vibrations by which it is produced.

30.

Music. the particular tonal standard with which given tones may be compared in respect to their relative level.

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31.

Acoustics. the apparent predominant frequency sounded by an acoustical source.

32.

act or manner of pitching.

33.

a throw or toss.

34.

Baseball. the serving of the ball to the batter by the pitcher, usually preceded by a windup or stretch.

35.

a pitching movement or forward plunge, as of a ship.

36.

upward or downward inclination or slope: a road descending at a steep pitch.

37.

a sloping part or place: to build on the pitch of a hill.

38.

a quantity of something pitched or placed somewhere.

39.

Cricket. the central part of the field; the area between the wickets.

40.

Informal.

a high-pressure sales talk: The salesman made his pitch for the new line of dresses.

a specific plan of action; angle: to tackle a problem again, using a new pitch.

41.

the specific location in which a person or object is placed or stationed; allotted or assigned place.

42.

Chiefly British. the established location, often a street corner, of a beggar, street peddler, newspaper vendor, etc.

43.

Aeronautics.

the nosing of an airplane or spacecraft up or down about a transverse axis.

the distance that a given propeller would advance in one revolution.

44.

(of a rocket or guided missile)

the motion due to pitching.

the extent of the rotation of the longitudinal axis involved in pitching.

45.

Also called plunge. Geology. the inclination of a linear feature, as the axis of a fold or an oreshoot, from the horizontal.

46.

Machinery.

the distance between the corresponding surfaces of two adjacent gear teeth measured either along the pitch circle (circular pitch) or between perpendiculars to the root surfaces (normal pitch).

the ratio of the number of teeth in a gear or splined shaft to the pitch circle diameter, expressed in inches.

the distance between any two adjacent things in a series, as screw threads, rivets, etc.

47.

(in carpet weaving) the weftwise number of warp ends, usually determined in relation to 27 inches (68.6 cm).

48.

Cards.

all fours (def. 2).

auction pitch.

49.

Masonry. a true or even surface on a stone.

50.

(of typewriter type) a unit of measurement indicating the number of characters to a horizontal inch: Pica is a 10-pitch type.

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Verb phrases

51.

pitch in, Informal.

to begin to work in earnest and vigorously: If I really pitch in, I may be able to finish the paper before the deadline.

to contribute to a common cause; join in: When they took up a collection for the annual dinner, he promised to pitch in.

52.

pitch into, Informal.

to attack verbally or physically: He apologized for pitching into me yesterday.

to begin to work on vigorously.

53.

pitch on/upon, to choose, especially casually or without forethought; decide on: We pitched on a day for our picnic.

Origin:
1175–1225; (v.) Middle English picchen to thrust, pierce, set, set up (a tent, etc.), array, throw; perhaps akin to pick¹; (noun) derivative of the v.

Related forms

pitch·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms
3. See throw.

Example Sentences

The whole map wouldn't be pitch black.

We might think perfect pitch is an innate talent.

Once she heard, she didn't hesitate to pitch a picture-book idea at me.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

any of various dark, tenacious, and viscous substances for caulking and paving, consisting of the residue of the distillation of coal tar or wood tar.

any of certain bitumens, as asphalt: mineral pitch.

any of various resins.

the sap or crude turpentine that exudes from the bark of pines.

verb (used with object)

to smear or cover with pitch.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English pich, Old English pic < Latin pic- (stem of pix), whence also Dutch pek, German Pech; akin to Greek píssa pitch

Related forms

pitch·like, adjective

Link To pitch

Collins

World English Dictionary

pitch¹ (pɪtʃ)

—vb (used with it as subject)
1.	to hurl or throw (something); cast; fling
2.	(usually tr) to set up (a camp, tent, etc)
3.	(tr) to place or thrust (a stake, spear, etc) into the ground
4.	(intr) to move vigorously or irregularly to and fro or up and down
5.	(tr) to aim or fix (something) at a particular level, position, style, etc: if you advertise privately you may pitch the price too low
6.	(tr) to aim to sell (a product) to a specified market or on a specified basis
7.	(intr) to slope downwards
8.	(intr) to fall forwards or downwards
9.	(intr) (of a vessel) to dip and raise its bow and stern alternately
10.	cricket to bowl (a ball) so that it bounces on a certain part of the wicket, or (of a ball) to bounce on a certain part of the wicket
11.	(intr) yaw Compare roll (of a missile, aircraft, etc) to deviate from a stable flight attitude by movement of the longitudinal axis about the lateral axis
12.	(tr) (in golf) to hit (a ball) steeply into the air, esp with backspin to minimize roll
13.	(tr) music
	a. to sing or play accurately (a note, interval, etc)
	b. (usually passive) (of a wind instrument) to specify or indicate its basic key or harmonic series by its size, manufacture, etc
14.	(tr) cards to lead (a suit) and so determine trumps for that trick
15.	baseball
	a. (tr) to throw (a baseball) to a batter
	b. (intr) to act as pitcher in a baseball game
16.	dialect (Southwest English) to snow without the settled snow melting
17.	informal (US), (Canadian) in there pitching taking part with enthusiasm
18.	pitch a tale, pitch a yarn to tell a story, usually of a fantastic nature

—n
19.	the degree of elevation or depression
20.	a. the angle of descent of a downward slope
	b. such a slope
21.	the extreme height or depth
22.	mountaineering a section of a route between two belay points, sometimes equal to the full length of the rope but often shorter
23.	the degree of slope of a roof, esp when expressed as a ratio of height to span
24.	the distance between corresponding points on adjacent members of a body of regular form, esp the distance between teeth on a gearwheel or between threads on a screw thread
25.	the distance between regularly spaced objects such as rivets, bolts, etc
26.	the pitching motion of a ship, missile, etc
27.	a. the distance a propeller advances in one revolution, assuming no slip
	b. the blade angle of a propeller or rotor
28.	the distance between the back rest of a seat in a passenger aircraft and the back of the seat in front of it
29.	music
	a. the auditory property of a note that is conditioned by its frequency relative to other notes: high pitch; low pitch
	b. concert pitch See also international pitch an absolute frequency assigned to a specific note, fixing the relative frequencies of all other notes. The fundamental frequencies of the notes A--G, in accordance with the frequency A = 440 hertz, were internationally standardized and accepted in 1939
30.	cricket the rectangular area between the stumps, 22 yards long and 10 feet wide; the wicket
31.	geology the inclination of the axis of an anticline or syncline or of a stratum or vein from the horizontal
32.	another name for seven-up
33.	the act or manner of pitching a ball, as in cricket
34.	chiefly (Brit) a vendor's station, esp on a pavement
35.	slang a persuasive sales talk, esp one routinely repeated
36.	chiefly (Brit) (in many sports) the field of play
37.	golf Also called: pitch shot an approach shot in which the ball is struck in a high arc
38.	slang (US), (Canadian) make a pitch for
	a. to give verbal support to
	b. to attempt to attract (someone) sexually or romantically
39.	informal (Brit) queer someone's pitch to upset someone's plans

[C13 picchen; possibly related to pick¹]

pitch² (pɪtʃ)

—n
1.	See also coal-tar pitch any of various heavy dark viscid substances obtained as a residue from the distillation of tars
2.	any of various similar substances, such as asphalt, occurring as natural deposits
3.	any of various similar substances obtained by distilling certain organic substances so that they are incompletely carbonized
4.	crude turpentine obtained as sap from pine treesRelated: piceous

—vb
5.	(tr) to apply pitch to (something)

Related: piceous

[Old English pic, from Latin pix]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

pitch

"tar," O.E. pic, from L. pix (gen. picis) "pitch," from PIE base *pi- "sap, juice" (cf. Gk. pissa, Lith. pikis, O.C.S. piklu "pitch," related to L. pinus; see pine (n.)).

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pitch

c.1200, "to thrust in, fasten, settle," probably from an unrecorded O.E. *piccean, related to the root of the verb prick. The original past tense was pight. Sense in pitch a tent (late 13c.) is from notion of "driving in" the pegs; meaning "throw a ball" evolved late 14c. from that of "hit the mark."

Noun meaning "act of throwing" is recorded from 1833. The noun meaning "act of plunging headfirst" is from 1762; sense of "slope, degree, inclination" is from 1540s; musical sense is from 1590s; but the connection of these is obscure. Sales pitch is attested from 1876, probably extended from meaning "stall pitched as a sales booth" (1811). Pitch-pipe is attested from 1711. Pitcher "one who pitches" is recorded from 1722, originally hay into a wagon, etc.; baseball sense first recorded 1845.

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American Heritage

Science Dictionary

pitch (pĭch) Pronunciation Key

A thick, tarlike substance obtained by distilling coal tar, used for roofing, waterproofing, and paving.
Any of various natural bitumens, such as asphalt, having similar uses.
A resin derived from the sap of a cone-bearing tree, such as a pine.

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Pitch definition

(Gen. 6:14), asphalt or bitumen in its soft state, called "slime" (Gen. 11:3; 14:10; Ex. 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea (q.v.). It was used for various purposes, as the coating of the outside of vessels and in building. Allusion is made in Isa. 34:9 to its inflammable character. (See SLIME.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

pitch

In addition to the idioms beginning with pitch, also see black as night (pitch); in there pitching; make a pitch for; sales pitch; wild pitch.