pitch

1 noun

1 SPORTS FIELD (C) BrE a specially marked out area of ground on which a sport is played; field 1 (4) AmE: The crowd invaded the pitch at the end of the match. | a cricket pitch

2 STRONG FEELINGS (singular, uncountable) the strength of your feelings or opinions about something: Disagreement reached such a pitch that we thought a fight would break out. | at fever pitch (=with a lot of excited feeling): Speculation about the election was at fever pitch.

3 MUSIC

a) the highness or lowness of a musical note

—see also: perfect pitch

b) the ability of a musician to play or sing a note at exactly the correct pitch: She's got good pitch.

4 SELLING (C) informal what a sales person says about a product to persuade people to buy it; sales pitch

5 BASEBALL (C) a throw of the ball, or a way in which it can be thrown: His first pitch went wide.

6 BLACK SUBSTANCE (U) a black, sticky substance that is used on roofs, the bottoms of ships etc to stop water coming through: as black as pitch (=very dark)

—see also: pitch­black, pitch­dark

7 SHIP/AIRCRAFT (C) a backward and forward movement of a ship or an aircraft

—compare roll 2 (4)

8 SLOPE (singular, uncountable) the degree to which a roof slopes

9 STREET/MARKET (C) BrE a place in a public area where a street trader or entertainer goes to sell things or perform

—see also: queer sb's pitch queer 3 2 verb

1 THROW (T) to throw something with a lot of force, often aiming carefully: Men slouched on the corner, pitching pennies. | pitch sth over/into/through etc: Fran screwed up the letter and pitched it into the fire.

2 BALL GAMES

a) (I, T) to aim and throw a ball in baseball

b) (I) if a ball pitches in cricket or golf, it hits the ground

c) (T) to hit the ball in a high curve in golf

d) (T) to make the ball hit the ground when you are bowling (bowl2 (2) in cricket

3 FALL (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive always + adv/prep) to fall suddenly and heavily in a particular direction, or to make someone or something fall in this way: pitch forward/backward/over etc: Jim pitched forward as the train jerked to a halt.

4 SHIP/AIRCRAFT (I) if a ship or an aircraft pitches, it moves along with the back and front going up and down: The old frigate pitched violently on the massive waves.

—compare roll 2 (4), yaw

5 SET A LEVEL (transitive always + adv/prep)

a) if you pitch an examination, explanation, speech etc at a particular level of difficulty, you make sure that it can be understood by people at that level: Pitch the test at your average students' level of ability. | They're a young audience, so don't pitch it too high.

b) to set prices at a particular level: Prices for the new hatchbacks are pitched very competitively.

6 MUSIC (transitive always + adv/prep) if you pitch your voice or another sound at a particular level, the sound is produced at that level: pitch sth high/low etc: This song is pitched too high for my voice.

—see also: high­pitched, low­pitched

7 pitch camp/pitch a tent to set up a tent or a camp for a short time: We pitched our tents beside a stream.

8 BUSINESS DEALS (I, T) informal, especially AmE to try to make a business agreement, or to sell something by saying how good it is: sales reps pitching the latest gadgets

(+ for): Jack's trying to pitch for a deal.

9 SLOPE (intransitive always + adv/prep) to slope downwards: pitch gently/steeply etc: The roof pitches sharply to the rear of the house.

—see also: pitched

10 pitch sb a line/yarn AmE informal to tell someone a story or give them an excuse that is difficult to believe: She pitched me some yarn about a bomb scare on the metro.

pitch in phrasal verb (I) informal

1 to start to work eagerly as a member of a group: If we all pitch in, we'll have it finished in no time.

2 to add your help or support: pitch in with sth: The local council pitched in with the offer of a free van.

3 to start to eat hungrily: Pitch in - there's plenty for everyone.

pitch into sb phrasal verb (T) spoken to attack someone by hitting them or insulting them pitch up phrasal verb (I) BrE spoken to arrive somewhere; turn up: Guess who just pitched up on Saturday night?