{Pitch of poles} (Elec.), the distance between a pair of
poles of opposite sign.
2. Fig.: To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
The welkin pitched with sullen could. --Addison.
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]
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.
{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.
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.
{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.
2. Inclination downward; direction below a horizontal line;
slope; pitch.
3. A liquid, as a sauce or gravy, served at table with a
ladle or spoon. [Local, U.S.] --Bartlett.
4. A dipped candle. [Colloq.] --Marryat.
{Dip of the horizon} (Astron.), the angular depression of the
seen or visible horizon below the true or natural horizon;
the angle at the eye of an observer between a horizontal
line and a tangent drawn from the eye to the surface of
the ocean.
{Dip of the needle}, or {Magnetic dip}, the angle formed, in
a vertical plane, by a freely suspended magnetic needle,
or the line of magnetic force, with a horizontal line; --
called also {inclination}.
{Dip of a stratum} (Geol.), its greatest angle of inclination
to the horizon, or that of a line perpendicular to its
direction or strike; -- called also the {pitch}.