# pitcher

Pronunciation: US say "PICH-ur" /ˈpɪt͡ʃ.ɚ/; UK say "PICH-uh" /ˈpɪtʃ.ə/

## Noun

1. The defensive player who throws the ball toward home plate for the batter to hit.
   - Simple: The player on a baseball team who throws the ball for the batter to hit.
   - _The pitcher delivered a curveball that fooled the batter completely._
   - _Relief pitchers often enter the game in the final innings._
2. A deep, wide-mouthed vessel for holding liquids, fitted with a handle and a spout or lip for pouring.
   - Simple: A deep container for holding drinks, with a handle and a lip for pouring.
   - _A ceramic pitcher of iced tea sat in the middle of the table._
   - _The waiter refilled our pitcher with water twice during dinner._
3. A person who makes a pitch: an idea, proposal, or sales offer meant to win support.
   - Simple: A person who suggests an idea or plan to get other people to agree to it.
   - _The startup's lead pitcher walked the room through the funding proposal._
   - _A skilled pitcher can turn a rough idea into a signed deal._
4. A person who throws or tosses something, in any sense of pitching an object toward a spot.
   - Simple: A person who throws or tosses something at or toward a target.
   - _A good pitcher of horseshoes knows just how much spin to add._
   - _The carnival pitcher lobbed rings toward the rows of bottles._
5. The active, penetrating partner in sex between two men; the top. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: The partner who takes the active, penetrating role in sex between two men.
   - _He told his partner he had always preferred being the pitcher._
   - _The two men joked over drinks about which of them was the pitcher._
6. A person who sells illegal drugs, especially directly to users on the street. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person who sells illegal drugs.
   - _A local pitcher controlled drug sales on that block for years._
   - _The pitcher slipped the package into a buyer's coat pocket._
7. A tubular or cup-shaped appendage formed by the leaves of certain plants, such as the pitcher plant.
   - Simple: A tube- or cup-shaped part that grows from the leaves of some plants.
   - _The pitcher of the plant secretes a fluid that drowns visiting insects._
   - _Some species grow pitchers large enough to trap small frogs._
8. Pronunciation spelling of picture, showing a casual or regional way of saying it. — Pronunciation spelling of picture, representing dialectal English.
   - Simple: Pronunciation spelling of picture. It shows how some people say the word out loud.
   - _"That's an old pitcher of my mama," he said, pointing at the mantel._
   - _In the novel, the farmer drawls, "Let me show you a pitcher of my new truck."_

## Noun

9. A person who sells goods in the streets, a street seller hawking wares to passersby. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: A person who sells things in the streets.
   - _Each morning the pitcher set out his wares on the busy thoroughfare._
   - _A pitcher hawked roasted chestnuts to the evening crowd._
10. A person who puts counterfeit money into circulation by spending it among ordinary people. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: A person who passes fake money to others as if it were real.
   - _A clever pitcher could spend a dozen forged shillings in a single afternoon._
   - _The magistrate sentenced the pitcher to transportation for passing bad coin._
11. A heavy iron bar of the crowbar type, used for breaking up and digging into hard ground. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A heavy iron bar used for digging holes in hard ground.
   - _The laborers loosened the packed earth with a heavy pitcher before shoveling._
   - _He leaned his weight on the pitcher to pry the buried stone free._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–6, 9–11** — Formed from the verb "pitch" combined with the suffix "-er."
**Meanings 2, 7** — From Middle English "picher," from Old French "pichier" or "pechier" ("small jug"), from Late or Medieval Latin "pīcārium," an alteration of "bīcārium," which may come from "bacarium" or possibly from Ancient Greek "bîkos." It is a doublet of "beaker."

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