pitch Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration
  2. noun (baseball) the act of throwing a baseball by a pitcher to a batter
    delivery.
  3. noun a vendor's position (especially on the sidewalk)
    • he was employed to see that his paper's news pitches were not trespassed upon by rival vendors
  4. noun promotion by means of an argument and demonstration
    sales pitch; sales talk.
  5. noun degree of deviation from a horizontal plane
    rake; slant.
    • the roof had a steep pitch
  6. noun any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue
    tar.
  7. noun a high approach shot in golf
    pitch shot.
  8. noun an all-fours game in which the first card led is a trump
    auction pitch.
  9. noun abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other conveyance)
    lurch; pitching.
    • the pitching and tossing was quite exciting
  10. noun the action or manner of throwing something
    • his pitch fell short and his hat landed on the floor
  11. verb throw or toss with a light motion
    toss; sky; flip.
    • flip me the beachball
    • toss me newspaper
  12. verb move abruptly
    shift; lurch.
    • The ship suddenly lurched to the left
  13. verb fall or plunge forward
    • She pitched over the railing of the balcony
  14. verb set to a certain pitch
    • He pitched his voice very low
  15. verb sell or offer for sale from place to place
    monger; vend; peddle; hawk; huckster.
  16. verb be at an angle
    slope; incline.
    • The terrain sloped down
  17. verb heel over
    tilt; cant; slant; cant over.
    • The tower is tilting
    • The ceiling is slanting
  18. verb erect and fasten
    set up.
    • pitch a tent
  19. verb throw or hurl from the mound to the batter, as in baseball
    deliver.
    • The pitcher delivered the ball
  20. verb hit (a golf ball) in a high arc with a backspin
  21. verb lead (a card) and establish the trump suit
  22. verb set the level or character of
    gear.
    • She pitched her speech to the teenagers in the audience

WordNet

Pitch noun
Etymology
OE. pich, AS. pic, L. pix; akin to Gr. .
Definitions
  1. A thick, black, lustrous, and sticky substance obtained by boiling down tar. It is used in calking the seams of ships; also in coating rope, canvas, wood, ironwork, etc., to preserve them.
    He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith. Ecclus. xiii. 1.
  2. (Geol.) See Pitchstone.
Pitch transitive verb
Etymology
See Pitch, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Pitched ; present participle & verbal noun Pitching
Definitions
  1. To cover over or smear with pitch. Gen. vi. 14.
  2. Fig.: To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
    The welkin pitched with sullen could. Addison.
Pitch transitive verb
Etymology
OE. picchen; akin to E. pick, pike.
Definitions
  1. To throw, generally with a definite aim or purpose; to cast; to hurl; to toss; as, to pitch quoits; to pitch hay; to pitch a ball.
  2. To thrust or plant in the ground, as stakes or poles; hence, to fix firmly, as by means of poles; to establish; to arrange; as, to pitch a tent; to pitch a camp.
  3. To set, face, or pave with rubble or undressed stones, as an embankment or a roadway. Knight.
  4. To fix or set the tone of; as, to pitch a tune.
  5. To set or fix, as a price or value. Obs. Shak.
Pitch intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp. "Laban with his brethren pitched in the Mount of Gilead." Gen. xxxi. 25.
  2. To light; to settle; to come to rest from flight.
    The tree whereon they [the bees] pitch. Mortimer.
  3. To fix one's choise; -- with on or upon.
    Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the more easy. Tillotson.
  4. To plunge or fall; esp., to fall forward; to decline or slope; as, to pitch from a precipice; the vessel pitches in a heavy sea; the field pitches toward the east. Shak.
Pitch noun
Definitions
  1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand; as, a good pitch in quoits.
  2. (Cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.
  3. A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound.
    Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down Into this deep. Milton.
    Enterprises of great pitch and moment. Shak.
    To lowest pitch of abject fortune. Milton.
    He lived when learning was at its highest pitch. Addison.
    The exact pitch, or limits, where temperance ends. Sharp.
  4. Height; stature. Obs. Hudibras.
  5. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
  6. The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant; as, a steep pitch in the road; the pitch of a roof.
  7. (Mus.) The relative acuteness or gravity of a tone, determined by the number of vibrations which produce it; the place of any tone upon a scale of high and low. ✍ Musical tones with reference to absolute pitch, are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet; with reference to relative pitch, in a series of tones called the scale, they are called one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight is also one of a new scale an octave higher, as one is eight of a scale an octave lower.
  8. (Mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
  9. (Mech.) (a) The distance from center to center of any two adjacent teeth of gearing, measured on the pitch line; -- called also circular pitch. (b) The length, measured along the axis, of a complete turn of the thread of a screw, or of the helical lines of the blades of a screw propeller. (c) The distance between the centers of holes, as of rivet holes in boiler plates.

Webster 1913