Dictionary.com
definitions

pitch

1
[pich]
See more synonyms for pitch on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to erect or set up (a tent, camp, or the like).
  2. to put, set, or plant in a fixed or definite place or position.
  3. to throw, fling, hurl, or toss.
  4. Baseball.
    1. to deliver or serve (the ball) to the batter.
    2. to fill the position of pitcher in (a game): He pitched a no-hitter. He pitched a good game.
    3. to choose or assign as a pitcher for a game: The manager pitched Greene the next night.
  5. to set at a certain point, degree, level, etc.: He pitched his hopes too high.
  6. Music. to set at a particular pitch, or determine the key or keynote of (a melody).
  7. Cards.
    1. to lead (a card of a particular suit), thereby fixing that suit as trump.
    2. to determine (the trump) in this manner.
  8. to pave or revet with small stones.
  9. Masonry.
    1. to square (a stone), cutting the arrises true with a chisel.
    2. 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.
verb (used without object)
  1. to plunge or fall forward or headlong.
  2. to lurch.
  3. to throw or toss.
  4. Baseball.
    1. to deliver or serve the ball to the batter.
    2. to fill the position of pitcher: He pitched for the Mets last year.
  5. to slope downward; dip.
  6. to plunge with alternate fall and rise of bow and stern, as a ship (opposed to roll).
  7. (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.
  8. to fix a tent or temporary habitation; encamp: They pitched by a mountain stream.
  9. Golf. to play a pitch shot.
  10. Informal. to attempt to sell or win approval for something or someone by advertising, promotion, etc.: politicians pitching on TV.
  11. Rare. to become established; settle down.
noun
  1. relative point, position, or degree: a high pitch of excitement.
  2. the degree of inclination or slope; angle: the pitch of an arch; the pitch of a stair.
  3. the highest point or greatest height: enjoying the pitch of success.
  4. (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.
  5. Music. the particular tonal standard with which given tones may be compared in respect to their relative level.
  6. Acoustics. the apparent predominant frequency sounded by an acoustical source.
  7. act or manner of pitching.
  8. a throw or toss.
  9. Baseball. the serving of the ball to the batter by the pitcher, usually preceded by a windup or stretch.
  10. a pitching movement or forward plunge, as of a ship.
  11. upward or downward inclination or slope: a road descending at a steep pitch.
  12. a sloping part or place: to build on the pitch of a hill.
  13. a quantity of something pitched or placed somewhere.
  14. Cricket. the central part of the field; the area between the wickets.
  15. Informal.
    1. a high-pressure sales talk: The salesman made his pitch for the new line of dresses.
    2. a specific plan of action; angle: to tackle a problem again, using a new pitch.
  16. the specific location in which a person or object is placed or stationed; allotted or assigned place.
  17. Chiefly British. the established location, often a street corner, of a beggar, street peddler, newspaper vendor, etc.
  18. Aeronautics.
    1. the nosing of an airplane or spacecraft up or down about a transverse axis.
    2. the distance that a given propeller would advance in one revolution.
  19. (of a rocket or guided missile)
    1. the motion due to pitching.
    2. the extent of the rotation of the longitudinal axis involved in pitching.
  20. Also called plunge. Geology. the inclination of a linear feature, as the axis of a fold or an oreshoot, from the horizontal.
  21. Machinery.
    1. 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).
    2. the ratio of the number of teeth in a gear or splined shaft to the pitch circle diameter, expressed in inches.
    3. the distance between any two adjacent things in a series, as screw threads, rivets, etc.
  22. (in carpet weaving) the weftwise number of warp ends, usually determined in relation to 27 inches (68.6 cm).
  23. Cards.
    1. all fours(def 2).
    2. auction pitch.
  24. Masonry. a true or even surface on a stone.
  25. (of typewriter type) a unit of measurement indicating the number of characters to a horizontal inch: Pica is a 10-pitch type.
Verb Phrases
  1. pitch in, Informal.
    1. to begin to work in earnest and vigorously: If I really pitch in, I may be able to finish the paper before the deadline.
    2. to contribute to a common cause; join in: When they took up a collection for the annual dinner, he promised to pitch in.
  2. pitch into, Informal.
    1. to attack verbally or physically: He apologized for pitching into me yesterday.
    2. to begin to work on vigorously.
  3. pitch on/upon, to choose, especially casually or without forethought; decide on: We pitched on a day for our picnic.

Origin of pitch

1
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 formspitch·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms for pitch

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
3. See throw.

pitch

2
[pich]
noun
  1. 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.
  2. any of certain bitumens, as asphalt: mineral pitch.
  3. any of various resins.
  4. the sap or crude turpentine that exudes from the bark of pines.
verb (used with object)
  1. to smear or cover with pitch.

Origin of pitch

2
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 formspitch·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for pitch

angle, point, drop, slope, incline, degree, level, gradient, slant, height, cant, dip, steepness, sound, modulation, timbre, harmonic, rate, frequency, spiel

Examples from the Web for pitch

Contemporary Examples of pitch

Historical Examples of pitch

  • Then the body had become a "mummy" because it was filled with "Mumiai" or pitch.

    Ancient Man

    Hendrik Willem van Loon

  • They told how Tomo was wrought to a pitch of frenzied interest by this manhunt.

  • The picture became obscured, and presently it was pitch dark.

  • Draw a diagram representing the circumference line and pitch in feet.

    Flying Machines

    W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell

  • The captain had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for pitch

pitch

1
verb
  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, etcif 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) (of a missile, aircraft, etc) to deviate from a stable flight attitude by movement of the longitudinal axis about the lateral axisCompare yaw (def. 1), roll (def. 14)
  12. (tr) (in golf) to hit (a ball) steeply into the air, esp with backspin to minimize roll
  13. (tr) music
    1. to sing or play accurately (a note, interval, etc)
    2. (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
    1. (tr)to throw (a baseball) to a batter
    2. (intr)to act as pitcher in a baseball game
  16. Southwest English dialect (used with it as subject) to snow without the settled snow melting
  17. in there pitching US and Canadian informal taking part with enthusiasm
  18. pitch a tale or pitch a yarn to tell a story, usually of a fantastic nature
noun
  1. the degree of elevation or depression
    1. the angle of descent of a downward slope
    2. such a slope
  3. the extreme height or depth
  4. mountaineering a section of a route between two belay points, sometimes equal to the full length of the rope but often shorter
  5. the degree of slope of a roof, esp when expressed as a ratio of height to span
  6. 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
  7. the distance between regularly spaced objects such as rivets, bolts, etc
  8. the pitching motion of a ship, missile, etc
    1. the distance a propeller advances in one revolution, assuming no slip
    2. the blade angle of a propeller or rotor
  10. the distance between the back rest of a seat in a passenger aircraft and the back of the seat in front of it
  11. music
    1. the auditory property of a note that is conditioned by its frequency relative to other noteshigh pitch; low pitch
    2. 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 1939See also concert pitch (def. 1), international pitch
  12. cricket the rectangular area between the stumps, 22 yards long and 10 feet wide; the wicket
  13. geology the inclination of the axis of an anticline or syncline or of a stratum or vein from the horizontal
  14. another name for seven-up
  15. the act or manner of pitching a ball, as in cricket
  16. mainly British a vendor's station, esp on a pavement
  17. slang a persuasive sales talk, esp one routinely repeated
  18. mainly British (in many sports) the field of play
  19. Also called: pitch shot golf an approach shot in which the ball is struck in a high arc
  20. make a pitch for US and Canadian slang
    1. to give verbal support to
    2. to attempt to attract (someone) sexually or romantically
  21. queer someone's pitch British informal to upset someone's plans
See also pitch in, pitch into, pitch on

Word Origin for pitch

C13 picchen; possibly related to pick 1

pitch

2
noun
  1. any of various heavy dark viscid substances obtained as a residue from the distillation of tarsSee also coal-tar pitch
  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 adjective: piceous
verb
  1. (tr) to apply pitch to (something)

Word Origin for pitch

Old English pic, from Latin pix
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for pitch
n.2

"resinous substance, wood tar," late 12c., pich, from Old English pic "pitch," from a Germanic borrowing (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian pik, Middle Dutch pik, Dutch pek, Old High German pek, German Pech, Old Norse bik) from Latin pix (genitive picis) "pitch," from PIE root *pi- "sap, juice" (cf. Greek pissa, Lithuanian pikis, Old Church Slavonic piklu "pitch;" see pine (n.)). Applied to pine resins from late 14c. Pitch-black is attested from 1590s; pitch-dark from 1680s.

v.1

c.1200, "to thrust in, fasten, settle," probably from an unrecorded Old English *piccean, related to prick (v.). The original past tense was pight. Sense of "set upright," as in pitch a tent (late 13c.), is from notion of "driving in" the pegs. Meaning to incline forward and downward" is from 1510s. Meaning "throw (a ball)" evolved late 14c. from that of "hit the mark." Musical sense is from 1670s. Of ships, "to plunge" in the waves, 1620s. To pitch in "work vigorously" is from 1847, perhaps from farm labor. Related: Pitched; pitching.

n.1

1520s, "something that is pitched," from pitch (v.1). Meaning "act of throwing" is attested from 1833. 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 in the modern commercial advertising sense is from 1943, American English, perhaps from the baseball sense.

v.2

"to cover with pitch," Old English pician, from the source of pitch (n.2).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pitch in Science

pitch

[pĭch]
  1. A thick, tarlike substance obtained by distilling coal tar, used for roofing, waterproofing, and paving.
  2. Any of various natural bitumens, such as asphalt, having similar uses.
  3. A resin derived from the sap of a cone-bearing tree, such as a pine.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with pitch

pitch

In addition to the idioms beginning with pitch

  • pitched battle, a
  • pitch in
  • pitch into
  • pitch on
  • pitch woo

also see:

  • black as night (pitch)
  • in there pitching
  • make a pitch for
  • sales pitch
  • wild pitch
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.