1. [n]  abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other conveyance); "the pitching and tossing was quite exciting"
2. [n]  the action or manner of throwing something; "his pitch fell short and his hat landed on the floor"
3. [n]  (baseball) the throwing of a baseball by a pitcher to a batter
4. [n]  an all-fours game in which the first card led is a trump
5. [n]  a high approach shot in golf
6. [n]  the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration
7. [n]  degree of deviation from a horizontal plane; "the roof had a steep pitch"
8. [n]  promotion by means of an argument and demonstration
9. [n]  (British) 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"
10. [n]  any of various dark heavy viscid substances obtained as a residue
11. [v]  set the level or character of; "She pitched her speech to the teenagers in the audience"
12. [v]  cause to be at a particular level; "She pitched her aspirations too high"
13. [v]  set to a certain pitch, as of an instrument or one's voice; "He pitched his voice very low"
14. [v]  erect and fix firmly in place; "They pitched the roof at a steep slant"
15. [v]  throw or hurl, as in baseball; "The pitcher delivered the ball"
16. [v]  throw or toss with a light motion; "flip me the beachball"; "toss me newspaper"
17. [v]  erect and fasten; "pitch a tent"
18. [v]  move abruptly
19. [v]  heel over; "The tower is tilting"; "The ceiling is slanting"
20. [v]  fall forwards
21. [v]  be at an angle; "The terrain sloped down"
22. [v]  sell or offer for sale from place to place

1. \Pitch\, n. (Elec.)
   The distance between symmetrically arranged or corresponding
   parts of an armature, measured along a line, called the pitch
   line, drawn around its length. Sometimes half of this
   distance is called the pitch.
   {Pitch of poles} (Elec.), the distance between a pair of
      poles of opposite sign.
   

2. \Pitch\, n. [OE. pich, AS. pic, L. pix; akin to Gr. ?.]
   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}.
   {Amboyna pitch}, the resin of {Dammara australis}. See
      {Kauri}.
   {Burgundy pitch}. See under {Burgundy}.
   {Canada pitch}, the resinous exudation of the hemlock tree
      ({Abies Canadensis}); hemlock gum.
   {Jew's pitch}, bitumen.
   {Mineral pitch}. See {Bitumen} and {Asphalt}.
   {Pitch coal} (Min.), bituminous coal.
   {Pitch peat} (Min.), a black homogeneous peat, with a waxy
      luster.
   {Pitch pine} (Bot.), any one of several species of pine,
      yielding pitch, esp. the {Pinus rigida} of North America.
   

3. \Pitch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pitched}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Pitching}.] [See {Pitch}, n.]
   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.
   

4. \Pitch\, v. t. [OE. picchen; akin to E. pick, pike.]
   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.
   {Pitched battle}, a general battle; a battle in which the
      hostile forces have fixed positions; -- in distinction
      from a skirmish.
   {To pitch into}, to attack; to assault; to abuse. [Slang]
   

5. \Pitch\, v. i.
   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.
   {Pitch and pay}, an old aphorism which inculcates ready-money
      payment, or payment on delivery of goods. --Shak.
   

6. \Pitch\, n.
   1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand;
      as, a good pitch in quoits.
   {Pitch and toss}, a game played by tossing up a coin, and
      calling ``Heads or tails;'' hence:
   {To play pitch and toss with (anything)}, to be careless or
      trust to luck about it. ``To play pitch and toss with the
      property of the country.'' --G. Eliot.
   {Pitch farthing}. See {Chuck farthing}, under 5th {Chuck}.
   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.
   Note: 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.
   {Concert pitch} (Mus.), the standard of pitch used by
      orchestras, as in concerts, etc.
   {Diametral pitch} (Gearing), the distance which bears the
      same relation to the pitch proper, or circular pitch, that
      the diameter of a circle bears to its circumference; it is
      sometimes described by the number expressing the quotient
      obtained by dividing the number of teeth in a wheel by the
      diameter of its pitch circle in inches; as, 4 pitch, 8
      pitch, etc.
   {Pitch chain}, a chain, as one made of metallic plates,
      adapted for working with a sprocket wheel.
   {Pitch line}, or {Pitch circle} (Gearing), an ideal line, in
      a toothed gear or rack, bearing such a relation to a
      corresponding line in another gear, with which the former
      works, that the two lines will have a common velocity as
      in rolling contact; it usually cuts the teeth at about the
      middle of their height, and, in a circular gear, is a
      circle concentric with the axis of the gear; the line, or
      circle, on which the pitch of teeth is measured.
   {Pitch of a roof} (Arch.), the inclination or slope of the
      sides expressed by the height in parts of the span; as,
      one half pitch; whole pitch; or by the height in parts of
      the half span, especially among engineers; or by degrees,
      as a pitch of 30[deg], of 45[deg], etc.; or by the rise
      and run, that is, the ratio of the height to the half
      span; as, a pitch of six rise to ten run. Equilateral
      pitch is where the two sloping sides with the span form an
      equilateral triangle.
   {Pitch of a plane} (Carp.), the slant of the cutting iron.
   {Pitch pipe}, a wind instrument used by choristers in
      regulating the pitch of a tune.
   {Pitch point} (Gearing), the point of contact of the pitch
      lines of two gears, or of a rack and pinion, which work
      together.
   

(Gen. 6:14), asphalt or bitumen in its soft state, called "slime" (Gen. 11:3; 14:10; Ex. 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea (q.v.). It was used for various purposes, as the coating of the outside of vessels and in building. Allusion is made in Isa. 34:9 to its inflammable character. (See SLIME.)