Word: pitch Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English picchen, pycchen (“to thrust in, fasten, settle”), from Old English *piċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *pikkijan, a variant of Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn (“to pick, peck”), whence Middle English pikken, picken (“to pick, pierce”), modern English pick. Pronunciation: /pɪt͡ʃ/ 1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. Example: a good pitch in quoits 2. The act of pitching a baseball. Example: The pitch was low and inside. 3. 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.) Labels: Australia, New-Zealand, UK Example: The teams met on the pitch. 4. A short, high, lofty shot that lands with backspin. 5. The field of battle. Labels: rare Example: “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.” Example: Every other day they would spend half of the training hours on the battle pitch. 6. An effort to sell or promote something. Example: He gave me a sales pitch. 7. 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. Example: The pitch of pixels on the point scale is 72 pixels per inch. Example: The pitch of this saw is perfect for that type of wood. 8. The angle at which an object sits. Example: the pitch of the roof or haystack 9. The rotation angle about the transverse axis. Example: the pitch of an aircraft 10. The rotation angle about the transverse axis. Example: The propeller blades' pitch went to 90° as the engine was feathered. 11. An area in a market (or similar) allocated to a particular trader. 12. The place where a busker performs, a prostitute solicits clients, or an illegal gambling game etc. is set up before the public. Labels: broadly Example: 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 […] 13. An area on a campsite intended for occupation by a single tent, caravan or similar. 14. A level or degree, or (by extension), a peak or highest degree. Example: He lived at a time when learning was at its highest pitch. Example: But, except the mind be disordered by disease or madness, they never can arrive at such a pitch of vivacity 15. A point or peak; the extreme point of elevation or depression. Example: Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down / Into this deep. 16. The most thrust-out point of a headland or cape. Example: 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; 17. Collectively, the outermost points of some part of the body, especially the shoulders or hips. Labels: obsolete, uncountable Example: Such breadth of ſhoulders as might mainely beare Olde Atlas burthen, twixt his manly pitch, A pearle more worth, then all the world is plaſte: 18. The height a bird reaches in flight, especially a bird of prey preparing to swoop down on its prey. 19. A person's or animal's height. Labels: UK, regional Example: Alba the emperor was crook-backed, Epictetus lame; that great Alexander a little man of stature, Augustus Cæsar of the same pitch […]. Example: So like in person, garb, and pitch, 'Twas hard t' interpret which was which 20. Prominence; importance. Example: Enterprises of great pitch and moment. 21. A section of a climb or rock face; specifically, the climbing distance between belays or stances. Example: 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. Example: 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. 22. A vertical cave passage, only negotiable by using rope or ladders. Example: The entrance pitch requires 30 metres of rope. 23. That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled. 24. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down. 25. The point where a declivity begins; hence, the declivity itself; a descending slope; the degree or rate of descent or slope; slant. Example: a steep pitch in the road Example: the pitch of a roof 26. The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.