pitchforkn.1
/ˈpɪtʃfɔːk/, U.S. /ˈpɪtʃˌfɔrk/ 1. A long-handled fork with two sharp prongs, for lifting and pitching hay, straw, or sheaves. Also occasionally: a short-handled fork for lifting dung, breaking clods, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > fork > pitch-fork
pikeforkc1275
shakefork1338
pickfork1349
pitchfork1364
pikea1398
bicornec1420
hay-fork1552
shed-fork1559
straw-fork1573
pikel1602
sheppeck1602
corn-pike1611
wain-forka1642
pick1777
pickle1847
peak1892
1364 Acct. Rolls Stebbing in Middle Eng. Dict. at Picche-fork Unum Pichforke.
1452 Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls (Bundle 31, No. 1) Ipsum percussit cum baculo vocato pychforke.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 254/2 Pytche forke, fovrche fiere.
1590 ‘H. R.’ Defiance to Fortune sig. N One of his horsekeepers, not knowing who was the theefe,..with a pitchforke, so basted him that he left hym for dead.
a1640 J. Day & H. Chettle Blind-beggar (1659) sig. H2v Let me dye like a Dog on a Pitch-fork.
1685 London Gaz. No. 2046/1 Between 2 and 3000..some with Musquets, some with Pistols, some with Pikes, and some with Pitchforks and Sythes.
1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse v. 105 There is at least a passibility, you may have a Pitchfark thrust in your backside.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 52 She wears her Cloaths, as if they were thrown on her with a Pitch-Fork.
1788 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 78 413 About as thick as a pitch-fork shaft.
1839 G. C. Lewis Gloss. Words Herefordshire 101 Stele, the wooden handle of a rake or pitchfork.
1871 R. Ellis tr. Catullus Poems cv. 2 They with pitchforks hurl Mentula dizzily down.
1900 Congress. Rec. 24 Jan. 1120/1 I want to say to the Senator that a pitchfork seldom touches a grasshopper.
1989 C. Harkness Time of Grace iv. 59 England is riddled with hearty, back-slapping women hurling manure about with pitchforks.
2. Chiefly U.S. to rain pitchforks and variants: to rain very hard.In quot. 1815, as an expression of improbability.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > rain > rain falls [verb (intransitive)] > rain heavily
ropec1450
to ding down1554
to come down1597
to ding onc1650
to rain cats and dogs1661
sile1703
pour1737
teem1753
pepper1767
flood1813
to rain pitchforks1815
rash1824
spate1853
bucket1926
tipplea1930
piss1948
1815 D. Humphreys Yankey in Eng. 55 I'll be even with you, if it rains pitchforks—tines downwards.
1850 J. R. Planché Island of Jewels ii. iii. 31 Rain cats and dogs, or pitchforks perpendicular, The sky's not mine, and need'nt be particular.
1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 77 Outside it was raining pitchforks.
1940 M. Fishback Time for Quick One 77 It's raining cats and dogs And pitchforks and assorted frogs.
1994 R. Hendrickson Happy Trails 192 Raining pitchforks and bull yearlings. A term used in Texas for raining very heavily.
2004 Girls' Life (Nexis) Dec. 56 When you wake up each a.m., make a firm decision to have a good day. Even if it's raining pitchforks and hammer handles.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
pitchforkv.
/ˈpɪtʃfɔːk/, U.S. /ˈpɪtʃˌfɔrk/ 1.
a. transitive. To throw (a person) into or out of something suddenly or unexpectedly; esp. to thrust (a person) forcibly or unsuitably into some office, position, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > appoint a person to an office [verb (transitive)] > appoint unsuitably or ignoring hierarchy
pitchfork1832
shoehorn1859
parachute1968
1832 Times 21 Mar. 1/6 There were, undoubtedly, many individuals..who, at other times and under other circumstances, would not be unfitted to be pitch-forked into the House of Peers.
1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc Hist. Ten Years I. 245 To have the descendants of Henri IV. pitchforked out of the country.
1874 A. Trollope Phineas Redux I. xxxiv. 288 He's to be pitchforked up to the Exchequer.
1922 A. Brazil Monitress Merle xiii. 190 Morland, who..had no very marked vocation for anything, had been pitchforked into engineering.
1946 ‘J. Tey’ Miss Pym Disposes v. 44 ‘Well,’ said Lucy, pitchforked of a sudden into decision.
1993 Sat. Night (Toronto) June 12/2 Tz'u-hsi was a woman of sheltered upbringing and ordinary intellect pitchforked into power.
b. transitive. gen. To lift or throw with, or as with, a pitchfork; to pitch forcibly or roughly. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > throw [verb (transitive)] > forcibly
ding1614
pitchfork1837
buzz1890
1837 Times 22 June 3/1 Resolv'd to drive the nuisance from their den, They'll probably pitchfork it back again.
1866 C. G. Halpine Baked Meats Pref. p. v A very indiscriminate collection of fugitive essays..hastily pitchforked together.
1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge II. i. 5 Elizabeth-Jane's bonnet and shawl were pitchforked on in a moment, and they went out.
1924 C. J. Galpin Rural Social Probl. xvii. 275 Then for days I pitchforked the leather roots off the land.
1924 C. J. Galpin Rural Social Probl. xvii. 276 I worked day after day, pitchforking and banking and raking, until there wasn't a twig or a root left.
1994 Independent on Sunday 19 June (Review Suppl.) 69/2 Once mixed, the sticky mass is pitchforked up on to the walls.
2. transitive. To stab or attack with a pitchfork.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > cut of sharp weapon > cut or penetrate (of weapon) [verb (transitive)] > strike with pointed weapon
prickOE
pritchOE
snese?c1225
threstc1275
stokea1300
bearc1330
stangc1340
broach1377
foinc1380
borea1400
dag?a1400
gorea1400
gridea1400
slot?a1400
staira1400
through-girdc1405
thrustc1410
runc1425
to run throughc1425
traversec1425
spitc1430
through-seeka1500
to run in1509
stab1530
to stab (a person) in1530
accloy1543
push1551
stoga1572
poacha1616
stocka1640
stoccado1677
stug1722
kittle1820
skewer1837
pitchfork1854
poke1866
chib1973
1854 J. Leech Pict. Life & Char. 22 Vowing that he will pitchfork Mr. B. if he comes ‘galloperravering’ over his fences.
1890 F. W. O. Ward 'Twixt Kiss & Lip 499 As long as the exploits of heroes are told..There is one, I am sure, that will never grow old, Of the hero who pitchforked the Devil.
1900 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Evening Sentinel 17 Nov. 15/2 He'd cut his fingers and pound his thumbs, and he'd swear that the man who made that stove-pipe should be pitchforked to death.
2001 New Straits Times (Malaysia) (Nexis) 13 June 2 The appearance at the very end of a women's detachment boasting of having pitchforked the enemy to death must rank among the most tactless, tasteless moments in all opera!
Derivatives
ˈpitchforked adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > appointment to office > [adjective] > appointed unsuitably
pitchforked1899
1899 Dundee Advertiser 10 Oct. 4 The pitchforked man..would fall the just prey to all the generation of ladder-climbers.
1990 G. Bear Queen of Angels (1991) i. xiv. 72 LA's neighborhoods around the combs had been split as if made of pitchforked glass.
ˈpitchforking n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > projecting through space or throwing > [noun] > throwing roughly or forcibly
pitchforking1838
1838 Times 22 Aug. 3/2 (headline) The ‘Pitchforking’ of Magistrates.
1891 Daily News 9 Nov. 3/1 This reckless pitchforking of unnecessary furniture.
1968 Amer. Anthropologist 70 1223/1 I believe that Van Zantwijk's attitude originates in his implicit conception of acculturation as a pitchforking of elements from one culture to another.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> see also
also refers to : pitch-forkn.2
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n.11364v.1832see also