# pitch

Pronunciation: say "PICH" /pɪt͡ʃ/

## Verb

1. In baseball, to throw the ball toward the batter, or to play as the pitcher for a game or team.
   - Simple: In baseball, to throw the ball to the batter, or to play as the team's pitcher.
   - _He pitched for the Cubs for eleven seasons._
   - _Rookies rarely pitch on opening day._
6. To promote or try to sell something, or to present an idea or plan in the hope of winning approval.
   - Simple: To try to sell something or persuade people to accept an idea.
   - _The agency pitched the campaign as a fresh start for the brand._
   - _Start-ups pitch to investors in five-minute slots._
7. To set up or erect a tent or similar shelter; figuratively, to take up a position.
   - Simple: To put up a tent by fixing it to the ground.
   - _The climbers pitched camp on the glacier._
   - _Politicians who pitch their tent far from the center rarely win._
10. To deliver or set something at a particular level, tone, or style, with a certain audience in mind.
   - Simple: To set a talk or piece of writing at a certain level for a particular audience.
   - _The book is pitched at general readers rather than specialists._
   - _Advertisers pitch their message to fit the channel._
14. Of a ship or aircraft, to rock so that the bow or nose rises and falls; also to cause such motion.
   - Simple: To move with the front going up and down, used about a ship or plane.
   - _The ferry pitched so badly that half the passengers were sick._
   - _Storm waves can pitch a trawler until its propeller leaves the water._
15. To throw something, especially with a full swing; to fling or toss.
   - Simple: To throw something, especially with a swing of the arm.
   - _Farmhands pitched hay onto the wagon with long forks._
   - _He learned to pitch horseshoes at his grandfather's farm._
20. To throw something away; to discard it, especially casually.
   - Simple: To throw something away because it is not wanted.
   - _We pitched half the files when the office moved._
   - _Don't pitch that box; the receipt is in it._
21. To set something at an angle, especially a downward one; to cause it to tilt or slope.
   - Simple: To set something at a slope, or to make it tilt, especially downward.
   - _Sidewalks are pitched slightly toward the road so that water drains._
   - _When you install the gutter, pitch it slightly toward the downspout so water drains instead of pooling._
23. To plunge or fall, especially forward, or to slope downward.
   - Simple: To fall suddenly, especially forward, or to slope downward.
   - _When the bus braked hard, standing passengers began to pitch toward the front._
   - _Behind the house the yard pitches sharply down to the creek._
25. In golf, to play the ball with a short, high, lofted shot that lands with backspin.
   - Simple: In golf, to hit the ball in a short, high shot that spins backward when it lands.
   - _When the green slopes away from you, pitch the ball high so it stops quickly._
   - _He pitched his approach to within six feet of the hole._
26. In cricket, of a bowled ball, to bounce on the playing surface.
   - Simple: In cricket, of the ball, to hit the ground and bounce.
   - _Spinners try to make every ball pitch on a good length and turn away from the bat._
   - _The delivery pitched outside off stump and cut back sharply._
29. To sound a note at a particular point on the range from low to high, or to set a voice, note, or tune at such a level.
   - Simple: To make a sound, or set a voice or song, at a certain level, high or low.
   - _As the choir tired near the end of the concert, the sopranos began to pitch slightly flat._
   - _His voice pitched higher with every question the reporters threw at him._

## Noun

2. How high or low a sound is, set mainly by its frequency; also, a standard pitch used to tune instruments.
   - Simple: How high or low a sound is, or the standard note used to tune instruments.
   - _Singers with perfect pitch can name a note without a reference._
   - _The pitch of the siren dropped as the ambulance passed._
3. In British, Australian, and New Zealand English, the marked-out field on which soccer, rugby, or hockey is played; in cricket, the strip in the middle of the ground between the two wickets. *(Australia, New Zealand, UK)*
   - Simple: The field where a game such as soccer or rugby is played, or in cricket the strip between the wickets.
   - _Fans invaded the pitch after the final whistle._
   - _The club's new ground has three training pitches._
4. A speech, presentation, or piece of persuasion intended to sell something or win support for an idea; a sales pitch.
   - Simple: A talk or presentation that tries to sell an idea or product.
   - _Her pitch to the investors lasted ten minutes and won them over._
   - _The studio rejected the pitch for a sequel._
5. In baseball, a single throw of the ball by the pitcher toward the batter; also the type of throw.
   - Simple: In baseball, one throw of the ball by the pitcher to the batter.
   - _The batter fouled off six pitches before drawing a walk._
   - _A pitch in the dirt let the runner steal second._
8. The angle or steepness of a slope, such as a roof, path, or pile; also a sloping stretch of ground.
   - Simple: How steeply something slopes, such as a roof, or a sloping part of a path.
   - _Builders express roof pitch as a rise over a run._
   - _The driveway has such a steep pitch that we park at the bottom whenever it snows._
9. A level, degree, or intensity; by extension, a peak or highest degree, as in 'a pitch of excitement'.
   - Simple: A level or degree of something, especially the highest point it reaches.
   - _By midnight, tempers in the hall had risen to such a pitch that the mayor called off the meeting._
   - _Their rivalry reached a pitch of bitterness that surprised old friends._
11. An allotted area on a campsite for a single tent, caravan, or motorhome. *(UK)*
   - Simple: A place on a campsite where one tent or caravan can be set up.
   - _Each pitch is marked with a numbered post._
   - _Grass pitches are cheaper than hardstanding ones._
13. A dark, very thick, sticky residue left after distilling tar or crude oil, used for sealing and waterproofing.
   - Simple: A thick, black, sticky substance made from tar or oil, used to seal things.
   - _Ancient boats were made watertight with pitch._
   - _The smell of pitch hung over the shipyard._
16. The angle by which a ship or aircraft is rotated about its side-to-side axis, tilting its bow or nose up or down.
   - Simple: How far the front of a ship or plane tilts up or down.
   - _The autopilot holds pitch and roll steady in cruise._
   - _Sensors measure the ship's pitch several times a second._
17. The spacing of evenly repeated things (saw or gear teeth, screw threads, holes, pixels, or characters in a fixed-width font) measured from one to the next.
   - Simple: The distance between things that are evenly spaced, such as the teeth of a saw.
   - _Metric bolts are described by diameter and thread pitch._
   - _On a monitor, the pitch between neighboring pixels sets how fine the detail can be._
18. In climbing, a section of a route or rock face; specifically, the distance climbed between two belay points or stances.
   - Simple: In climbing, one section of a climb, from one resting point to the next.
   - _The crux comes on the third pitch, a long crack._
   - _Each pitch is roughly the length of the rope._
19. A throw or toss, especially of something cast from the hand, as in games such as quoits.
   - Simple: A throw of something, such as a ball or a horseshoe.
   - _A lucky pitch of the horseshoe won him the match._
   - _His opening pitch in the horseshoe match clanged off the stake and rolled into the dirt._
22. A sticky, resinous substance exuded by trees, especially conifers; resin or sap.
   - Simple: A sticky substance that comes out of some trees, such as pines.
   - _Hikers scraped the pitch off their trousers with a knife._
   - _Native peoples used pine pitch to seal their canoes._
24. In golf, a short shot struck high into the air that checks with backspin when it lands.
   - Simple: In golf, a short shot that goes high in the air and spins backward when it lands.
   - _From forty yards out on the fairway, his pitch dropped onto the green and stopped dead beside the pin._
   - _Facing a tight pin just over a bunker, she lofted a high pitch that landed past the flag and spun back to within two feet._
27. An area in a market or similar place that is assigned to a particular trader.
   - Simple: The space in a market where one seller is allowed to set up.
   - _Traders arrived before dawn to set up their stalls on their usual pitches._
   - _A pitch near the entrance of the craft fair costs twice as much as one at the back._
28. The place in public where a street performer performs, a prostitute solicits clients, or an illegal gambling game or similar is set up.
   - Simple: A public spot where a street performer, a sex worker, or someone running an illegal game works.
   - _Every busker in the square knew which pitch drew the biggest lunchtime crowd._
   - _The shell-game crew changed pitches whenever a patrol car came into view._

## Adjective

12. Of darkness or blackness, intense and total; used almost only directly before 'black' or 'dark'.
   - Simple: Very deep and complete, used almost always right before the words black or dark.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In aviation, the angle of a propeller blade relative to its plane of rotation; a measure of how steeply the blades bite into the air.
- (verb) To settle on or decide upon something; to fix one's choice, used with 'on' or 'upon'.
- (noun) Prominence, weight, or importance; now literary, and best known from Hamlet's 'enterprises of great pitch and moment'.
- (verb) In brewing, to introduce yeast into a batch of beer as one stage of the process.
- (noun) A glassy volcanic rock with a dull, resin-like shine.
- (verb) To spread a layer of pitch over something.
- (verb) To make something dark or murky.
- (noun) The ground where a battle is fought.
- (noun) The highest or lowest point that something reaches, an extreme of height or depth.
- (noun) The tip of a promontory where it reaches farthest out to sea.
- (noun) The parts of the body that stick out farthest at the sides, mainly at shoulder or hip level.
- (noun) The height a hawk or other bird of prey climbs to before diving at its quarry.
- (noun) The height or stature of a person or animal.
- (noun) A sheer underground shaft that cavers can climb only with ropes or ladders.
- (noun) The spot where a bowled ball strikes the ground.
- (noun) A downward plunge or fall.
- (noun) The patch of ground a miner is given to work, being paid with part of the ore it produces.
- (verb) Of snow, to land and stay on the ground, piling up instead of melting.
- (verb) To land and settle after flying, as a bird or bee does.
- (verb) To surface a sloping bank or a road using broken rock and rough, unworked stones.
- (verb) To decide on what something will cost or be worth.
- (verb) In card games, to give up a card in order to gain some advantage.
- (verb) To launch an attack, or to draw up forces ready to attack.
- (noun) The member of an unaccompanied vocal group who sounds a reference note that the others tune to.
- (verb) To establish the key or tone in which something is sung or spoken.

## Origin

**Meanings 12–13, 22** — From Middle English 'picche', from Old English 'pic', from Proto-West Germanic *pik, from Latin 'pix'. It is related to Ancient Greek 'píssa' (pitch, tar), Dutch 'pek', and German 'Pech', and possibly to Latin 'pīnus' (pine). The adjective is probably back-formed from 'pitch-black', reinterpreting 'pitch' to mean 'intense(ly)'.
**Meanings 1, 3–11, 14–21, 23–28** — Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, which was a variant of *pikkōn (to pick, peck), led to Old English *piċċan and then Middle English 'picchen' (to thrust in, fasten, settle). The same *pikkōn is also the source of modern English 'pick'.
**Meanings 2, 29** — Of unknown origin. It perhaps comes from, or was influenced by, the sense of 'inclination', 'level', or 'degree'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pitch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).