pitch
(pɪtʃ )
Word forms: pitches , pitching , pitched
1. countable noun [oft noun NOUN] B2 regional note: in AM, usually use field
A pitch is an area of ground that is marked out and used for playing a game such as football, cricket, or hockey. [mainly British]
There was a swimming-pool, cricket pitches, and playing fields.
Their conduct both on and off the pitch was excellent.
2. verb
If you pitch something somewhere, you throw it with quite a lot of force, usually aiming it carefully.
Simon pitched the empty bottle into the lake. [VERB noun preposition]
Synonyms: throw, launch, cast, toss
3. verb
To pitch somewhere means to fall forwards suddenly and with a lot of force.
The movement took him by surprise, and he pitched forward. [VERB adverb]
Alan staggered sideways, pitched head-first over the low wall and fell into the lake. [VERB adverb]
I was pitched into the water and swam ashore. [be VERB-ed preposition/adverb]
Synonyms: fall, drop, plunge, dive
4. verb
If someone is pitched into a new situation, they are suddenly forced into it.
They were being pitched into a new adventure. [be VERB-ed preposition]
This could pitch the government into confrontation with the work-force. [VERB noun preposition]
5. verb [Also VERB preposition]
In the game of baseball or rounders, when you pitch the ball, you throw it to the batter for them to hit it.
We passed long, hot afternoons pitching a baseball. [VERB noun]
pitching uncountable noun
His pitching was a legend among major league hitters.
6. uncountable noun
The pitch of a sound is how high or low it is.
He raised his voice to an even higher pitch.
Synonyms: tone, sound, key, frequency
7. See also perfect pitch
8. verb [usually passive]
If a sound is pitched at a particular level, it is produced at the level indicated.
His cry is pitched at a level that makes it impossible to ignore. [be VERB-ed preposition/adverb]
His voice was pitched high, the words muffled by his crying. [be VERB-ed preposition/adverb]
Her voice was well pitched and brisk. [VERB-ed]
9. See also high-pitched, low-pitched
10. verb
If something is pitched at a particular level or degree of difficulty, it is set at that level.
I think the material is pitched at too high a level for our purposes. [be VERB-ed preposition]
The government has pitched High Street interest rates at a new level. [VERB noun preposition]
Synonyms: aim, direct, design for, mean for
11. singular noun
If something such as a feeling or a situation rises to a high pitch, it rises to a high level.
No other emotion is able to keep the body at a high pitch for such long periods.
The hysteria reached such a pitch that police were deployed to reassure parents at the school gates.
Synonyms: level, point, degree, summit
12. See also fever pitch
13. verb B2
If you pitch your tent, or pitch camp, you put up your tent in a place where you are going to stay.
He had pitched his tent in the yard. [VERB noun]
At dusk we pitched camp in the middle of nowhere. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: set up, place, station, locate
14. verb
If a boat pitches, it moves violently up and down with the movement of the waves when the sea is rough.
The ship is pitching and rolling in what looks like about fifteen-foot seas. [VERB]
Synonyms: toss (about), roll, plunge, flounder
15. uncountable noun
Pitch is a black substance that is sticky when it is hot and very hard when it is dry. Pitch is used on the bottoms of boats and on the roofs of houses to prevent water getting in.
The timbers of similar houses were painted with pitch.
Synonyms: tar, asphalt, bitumen
16. See also pitch-black
17. See also pitched
18. make a pitch/make one's pitch phrase
If someone makes a pitch for something, they try to persuade people to do or buy it.
The President made another pitch for his economic program. [+ for]
Prue invited the magazine's editor to lunch and made her pitch.
19. See also sales pitch
Phrasal verbs:
pitch for
phrasal verb [usually cont]
If someone is pitching for something, they are trying to persuade other people to give it to them.
...laws prohibiting the state's accountants from pitching for business. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
It was middle-class votes they were pitching for. [VERB PARTICLE noun]
pitch in
phrasal verb
If you pitch in, you join in and help with an activity. [informal]
The agency says international relief agencies also have pitched in. [VERB PARTICLE]
Cartoonists have pitched in with their favourites from their own and other hands. [VERB PARTICLE with noun]
The entire company pitched in to help. [VERB PARTICLE to-infinitive]
Image of pitch
© Christian Bertrand, Shutterstock
Idioms:
reach fever pitch
to become very intense and exciting, or very desperate
In the past year, the civil conflict has reached fever pitch.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
pitch camp
to settle somewhere or have control of a certain area for a period of time
As reporters pitched camp outside their home, the family's political differences became a public concern.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
make a pitch
to tell people how good something is and try to persuade them to support it or buy it
The president also used his remarks to make a pitch for further space exploration.
to try to obtain something
Are you ready to make a pitch for promotion?
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
queer someone's pitch [mainly British]
to make it very difficult for someone to achieve what they are trying to do
We did everything for you here, and you repay the school by doing your best to queer the pitch for us at a college to which we normally send our best boys.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
all-weather pitch artificial pitch pitch a tent throw a pitch training pitch voice pitch
Facilities include tennis and netball courts, grass pitches, climbing walls and a floodlit all-weather pitch.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
As well as a new gym, four accommodation blocks have been built plus an all-weather sports pitch and adult learning centre.
The Sun (2011)
There was also a small all-weather football pitch.
The Prisons We Deserve (1994)
Their first artificial pitch has recently been installed and they are now able to employ coaches of the highest calibre.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
Yet the world's most expensive player claims the artificial pitch will not be a problem.
The Sun (2014)
Most games are played on floodlit, artificial pitches.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Consider instead having an entire mountainside or coastline on which to pitch your tent without another soul around.
Times, Sunday Times
She must have been helping him pitch a tent.
The Sun
Stewards dish out numbered tokens to combat queue-jumping, sponsors give out goody bags and there's even room to pitch a tent.
Times, Sunday Times
Pitch your tent in a field or wood late at night and be gone by early morning.
Times, Sunday Times
You'll be able to pitch a tent or caravan for part of the year, but you won't be able to build anything more permanent.
Times, Sunday Times
Pitchers will get 12 seconds to throw a pitch with the bases empty and managers will be required to call relievers into the game before they reach the foul line.
Globe and Mail
That summer, he added a cut fastball to his pitching repertoire after accidentally discovering how to throw the pitch.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He would also throw the pitch from various arm angles to further confuse the hitter.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The batter waits for the pitcher to throw a pitch (the ball) toward home plate, and attempts to hit the ball with the bat.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He was a spitball pitcher who was allowed to throw the pitch after it was banned following the 1920 season.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
You cannot teach that, no matter how many hours, days or years you spend on the training pitch.
The Sun (2016)
You practise on the training pitch but it is a totally different situation in a game.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Now he cannot wait to get back onto the training pitch.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He accurately imitates the voice pitch of his trainers.
The Sun
Aside from other physiological responses, particular increases in voice pitch, frequency and intensity are said by the developers to be indicative of deception.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Production techniques in many satirical rap songs tend to be avant-garde and inventive, using voice pitch changes and distortion.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
It plays a key role in adjusting human voice pitch by changing the tension of the vocal cords.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Between sips of tea he speaks in a voice pitched somewhere between jollity and complaint.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Translations:
Chinese: 球场, 定调, 投
Japanese: ピッチ 競技場, 調子, 投げる