Definition of "pitch"

pitch¹

/pɪt͡ʃ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural pitches
1. A sticky, gummy substance secreted by trees; sap.
2. A dark, extremely viscous material remaining in still after distilling crude oil and tar.
3. (geology) Pitchstone.
verb
third-person singular simple present pitches, present participle pitching, simple past and past participle pitched
1. To cover or smear with pitch.
  Quotations
  “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.”
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 6:14
2. To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
  Quotations
  Soon he found / The welkin pitch'd with sullen clouds.
  1704 (published), year written unknown, John Dryden, On the Death of Amyntas

pitch²

/pɪt͡ʃ/

noun
plural pitches
1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand.
2. (baseball) The act of pitching a baseball.
3. (sports, UK, Australia, New Zealand) 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.)
4. (rare) The field of battle.
  Quotations
  “The two men of Alltraighe maintain, Two chiefs of the plain of Kerry, A clan the most active in pitch of battle, Their chiefs are O’Neide and Clan Conary.”
  1845, Owen Connellan, Annals of Ireland: Translated from the Original Irish of the Four Masters‎, page 179
  Every other day they would spend half of the training hours on the battle pitch.
  2015, SK Benton, Lives of Future-Past‎
  George’s cult was popular in the east because of his legendary feats on the battle pitch and because of the location of his tomb, which was a pilgrimage site.
  2018, Christopher R. Lakey, Sculptural Seeing: Relief, Optics and the Rise of Perspectives in Medieval Italy‎, page 84
5. An effort to sell or promote something.
6. 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.
7. The angle at which an object sits.
8. 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.
  2. (aviation) A measure of the angle of attack of a propeller.
9. An area in a market (or similar) allocated to a particular trader.
10. (by extension) The place where a busker performs, a prostitute solicits clients, or an illegal gambling game etc. is set up before the public.
  Quotations
  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 […]
  1975, Tom A. Cullen, The Prostitutes' Padre, page 94
11. An area on a campsite intended for occupation by a single tent, caravan or similar.
12. (by extension) , a peak or highest degree.
  Quotations
  He lived at a time when learning was at its highest pitch.
  September 28, 1710, Joseph Addison, Whig-Examiner No. 2
  But, except the mind be disordered by disease or madness, they never can arrive at such a pitch of vivacity
  1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, Oxford University Press, published 1973, section 11
  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.
  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.
  In this poem his 'vernacular' bluster and garish misrhymes build to a pitch of rowdy anarchy […]
  2014, James Booth, Philip Larkin: Life, Art and Love, page 190
13. A point or peak; the extreme point of elevation or depression.
  Quotations
  Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down / Into this deep.
  1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
14. The most thrust-out point of a headland or cape.
  Quotations
  From the pitch of Cape-Fraward, to the pitch of Cape-Holland, the Streight lies in the Channel West and by North, nearest, and is distant full five Leagues;
  2014, John Narborough, Abel Tasman, John Wood, An Account of Several Late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and North
15. (obsolete, uncountable) Collectively, the outermost points of some part of the body, especially the shoulders or hips.
  Quotations
  Such breadth of ſhoulders as might mainely beareOlde Atlas burthen, twixt his manly pitch,A pearle more worth, then all the world is plaſte:
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
16. The height a bird reaches in flight, especially a bird of prey preparing to swoop down on its prey.
17. (now Britain, regional) A person's or animal's height.
  Quotations
  Alba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame; that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Cæsar of the same pitch […] .
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, partition II, section 3, member 2
  So like in person, garb, and pitch, 'Twas hard t' interpret which was which
  1662, [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: University Press, 1905
18. Prominence; importance.
  Quotations
  Enterprises of great pitch and moment.
  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, [Act III, scene i]
19. (climbing) A section of a climb or rock face; specifically, the climbing distance between belays or stances.
  Quotations
  The line turns a sharp right-angle to the north to circumvent the town, and then plunges straight into the 1 in 50, which lasts for nearly 20 miles with few intermissions, and some pitches of 1 in 40.
  1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 265
  You lead "through" instead — your companion leads a pitch, then you join him. But instead of swapping over at the ice axe belay, you carry on in the lead, cutting or kicking steps until you are about twenty feet above.
  1967, Anthony Greenbank, Instructions in Mountaineering, page 84
20. (caving) A vertical cave passage, only negotiable by using rope or ladders.
21. (cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.
22. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
23. The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant.
24. (mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
verb
third-person singular simple present pitches, present participle pitching, simple past and past participle pitched or (obsolete) pight
1. (transitive) To throw.
2. (transitive or intransitive, baseball) To throw (the ball) toward a batter at home plate.
3. (intransitive, baseball) To play baseball in the position of pitcher.
4. (transitive) To throw away; discard.
5. (transitive) To promote, advertise, or attempt to sell.
6. (transitive) To deliver in a certain tone or style, or with a certain audience in mind.
7. (transitive) To assemble or erect (a tent).
8. (intransitive) To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.
  Quotations
  Laban with his brethren pitched in the Mount of Gilead.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Genesis 31:25
9. (transitive, intransitive, aviation or nautical) To move so that the front of an aircraft or boat goes alternatively up and down.
  Quotations
  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.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 28, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 136
  Half a dozen deserted boats pitched aimlessly upon the confusion of the waves.
  1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 103
10. (transitive, golf) To play a short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin.
11. (intransitive, cricket) To bounce on the playing surface.
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.
  Quotations
  the tree whereon they [the bees] pitch
  1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708
14. (with on or upon) To fix one's choice.
  Quotations
  Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the more easy.
  a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Precepts of Christianity not grievous
  "'Tis very unlucky that we didn't pitch on a sound one, when there were so many more of 'em!"
  1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], phase the first (The Maiden), page 53
15. (intransitive) To plunge or fall; especially, to fall forward; to decline or slope.
16. (transitive) To set, face, or pave (an embankment or roadway) with rubble or undressed stones.
  Quotations
  […] pitch the road with hard stones [rather] than to break them up for a road covering
  1838, Thomas Hughes, The Practice of Making & Repairing Roads
17. (transitive) To set or fix (a price or value).
  Quotations
  Whose vultur thought doth pitch the price so hie,That she will draw his lips rich treasure drie.The spelling has been modernized.
  1593, 1896
18. (transitive, card games, slang) To discard (a card) for some gain.
19. To attack, or position or assemble for attack.
  Quotations
  They pitched at the waters of Merom. These waters of Merom are generally thought to be nothing but the lake of Semechon,[…]
  1801, Thomas Coke, chapter 11, in A Commentary on the Holy Bible: Commentary on the Old Teatament‎, Joshua, page 51, verse 5
  “Vy don’t you pitch into her Sarah?” exclaims one half-dressed matron by way of encouragement.
  1866, Charles Dickens, Works: Sketches by Boz: Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People with Illustrations by George Cruikshank‎, page 65
  Yet I sometimes long to pitch at him for daring to lift his eyes this way; I always feel the blood tingling at my finger’s end whenever he crosses my path.
  1868, Rock Ruin; or the Daughter of the Island, page 23
  On the seventh day after the two armies were pitched against each other in the plain before Aphek the battle was joined, the Syrians were routed, and a hundred thousand of their foot-men were slain in one day.
  1886, James Osgood Andrew Clark, Elijah Vindicated: Or The Answer by Fire‎, page 378
  The Philistines, hearing that Israel were assembled at Mizpeh, raised an army and pitched against them.
  1892, Louis Barnett Abrahams, A Manual of Scripture History for Use in Jewish Schools and Families‎, page 72
  He would pitch into her, and pitch into himself, and then he would dwell on her good qualities, […]
  2015, William Dean Howells, Delphi Complete Works of William Dean Howells
  If Spain was to fight in the Americas, for example, the Royal Navy could pitch against it over 300 ships in the seventies (Morris 2011:13-32), deployed in various parts of the world.
  2016, A. González Enciso, War, Power and the Economy: Mercantilism and state formation in 18th-century Europe‎, page 144

pitch³

/pɪt͡ʃ/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural pitches
1. (music, phonetics) The perceived frequency of a sound or note.
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.
3. (music) In an a cappella group, the singer responsible for singing a note for the other members to tune themselves by.
verb
third-person singular simple present pitches, present participle pitching, simple past and past participle pitched
1. (intransitive) To produce a note of a given pitch.
  Quotations
  […] now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher.
  1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953
2. (transitive) To fix or set the tone of.
  Quotations
  His "hello" was enough to recognize his voice by. I pitched mine low so he wouldn't know it.
  1955 October, Rex Stout, “Die Like a Dog”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam, published 1994, pages 196–197

Definition of "pitch"

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pitch3

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pitch²

pitch³