pitapat 
pitapat (pitVpat >, i . i. |< iti>t, "<''.] To 
Mep or Ircml quickly. 
Run how'il with burthens to the fragrant Fit. 
I iiinl.!.- th,-m in, uid alter pit-a-pat 
Vp t UM Wutc. 
a^ttatrr. it. of Do BarU's Weeks, II., The Munificence. 
pita-wood (pe'ta-wud), H. Tlit- pith-like wood 
nf t'lin-fiin i /'<" rrroya) aignntrii, used some- 
time- in Uio Janeiro as a slow-match, and some- 
time- to line drawer* for holding insect.-. 
Pitaya bark. *< '""/'-' ""'1 riwc/(<. 
pit-bottom (pit'bot'um), . In eonl-miiiiin/, 
I In- eutraiic,- to a mine and the underground 
roads in tin- immediate vicinity, whether at 
tin- liottom of the pit or at any point in it be- 
iii-:itli tin- surface at which the cages arc load- 
c.l. Also pit-eye. [Eug.] 
Pitcairnia (pit-kar'ni-ji), n. [NL. (L'Heritier, 
ITsti); named after Archibald 1'ilcairiie (1652- 
1713), professor of medicine at Edinburgh.] A 
genus of monocotyledonous herbs, of the order 
llriiwi linrea, type of the tribe 1'itcairu fete, char- 
acterized by the terminal raceme with filiform 
styles and septicidally three-valved capsules. 
There are about 70 specie*, natives of tropical America. 
They bear clone cluu-rcd linear >hort or elongated riiri'l 
leaves, generally with spiny margins, and many showy 
narrow flowers of scarlet, yellow, or other colors, often 
with large colored tiracU. They are considered handsome 
greenhouse-plant*. See BMMfMsW 
Pitcairniese (pit-kar-ni'e-e), . pi. [NL. (Ben- 
tliiiin and Hooker. 1883), < I'itrairnia + -<*.] 
A tribe of plants of the order Bromeliaeete and the 
pineapple family, characterized by the superior 
ovary, and seeds with linear entire or wing-liko 
appendage. It Include* 6 genera, all of tropical Amer- 
ica, of which ntcairnia I* the type and I'ni/n an Impor- 
tant genus. 
pitch 1 (pich). r. ; pret. and pp. pitched, formerly 
/Hi/hi, ppr. pitching/. [< ME. picchen, pyechen 
(prct. niijlitt. pigte, pp. piffht, pigl. pygt), 
pitch, fix, pick, etc. ; assibilated form of picken, 
pikken, pick: see pick 1 , r.] I. trntm. If. To 
pierce with a sharp point; divide with some- 
thing sharp and pointed ; transfix. 
Chrlstus, thl tone, that In this world allghte 
I'pon the cross to suffre hlft passloun. 
And eek suflred that Longing his herte pightc. 
Chaucer, A. B. C., 1. 163. 
2. To thrust into the ground, as a stake or 
pointed peg; hence, to plant or fix; set up; 
place: as, to pitch a tent or a camp; to pitch 
the wickets in cricket. 
1 her thel piffht the kynges tcynte, by the felrest welle 
and the moste clere that thel hailde seen. 
Merlin (E. F.. T. S.\ II. 150. 
Sharp stake* . . . 
They pitched In the ground. 
Nhat., 1 Hen. VI., I. 1. 118. 
Where he spied a parrot or a monkey, there he was 
pitched; . . . no getting him away. 
H. Jmunn, liartholomcw Fair, I. 1. 
The Southern lords did intrh their camp 
Just at the brlilgr of I>ce. 
Bonny John Setm (Child's Ballads, VII. -Ml >. 
After their thorrow view of y place, they began fa pitch 
them selves upon their land A near their house. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 340. 
Wicket* were pilehnl at the orthodox hour of eleven 
a. m. Flint Ytar ../ a Silken Reign, p. 84. 
3. To fix or sot in order; array; arrange; set. 
A hnndrlth nhlppes full shcne with shut p men of annys, 
I'rilil full of pcpull it mony prise knight. 
Detraction a} Troy (F. F,. T. 8.\ 1. 4O56. 
There was no need that the book (the Book of Common 
Prayer) should mention either the learning of a fit, or 
the unfltneas of an Ignorant minister, more than that he 
which descrlbeth the manner how to pilch a field should 
speak of moderation and sobriety In diet 
Honker, Ecclea. Polity, T. :il. 
Having that pitched the fields, from either part went a 
Messenger with these conditions. 
Quoted In Cap'. John Smith'! Work*, I. 188. 
4. To fix, as a rate, value, or price; rate; class; 
Whose vulture thought doth pilch the price so high. 
Shale., Venus and Adonis, 1. 661. 
They pitched their commodities at what rate they pleased. 
Quoted tn CapL John Smith i Works, II. KB. 
6. To fling or throw; hurl; toss: an. to pitch 
a pike or a dart; to pitch a ball or a penny. 
He |hls horse) piyhte him on the pomel of his heed. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 18S1. 
Now, If thini strlk'st her but one blow, 
111 pilch thee from the cliff a* far 
A* crer peasant pitched a bar ! 
Scott, L. of the L., IT. H 
Ai for his cousin Rlngwood Twysden, Phil had often 
entertained a strong desire to wring his neck and pilch 
him down stairs. Thaekrrny, Philip, sill. 
6. Specifically, in hour-hall, to serve (the ball) 
to the butter. See luixt -hull. 7. Ill muxic, to 
iletennine or net the key (tuinility i or kev-note 
of; fix the relative -lirillncs* or height of; 
4514 
start or set ( piece) by sounding the key-note 
or first tone: as. to pitch a tune high. 8. To 
pave roughly; face with stones. 
A plaliie pitched walke subdlo, that Is vnder the open 
, yre Coryat, Crudities, I. 30. 
9. In certain card-games, to lead one of (a 
certain suit), thereby selecting it as trump. 
Pitched battle. Seetaafai. Pitched work, in nuuon- 
rjl work In rough stones which are neither thrown down 
Indiscriminately nor laid in regular courses, but let fall 
Into place with approximate regularity, so as to hind one 
another. It Is used In hydraulic engineering for the facing 
of breakwaters, the upper parts of Jetties, etc. 
IJ. intrant. 1. To fix a tent or temporary 
habitation; encamp. 
Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of (Ulead. 
Oen. xxxi. as. 
2t. To come to rest; settle down; sit down; 
alight. 
There pitching down, once more adieu, said she, 
Dull home, which no such seat conldst xpread for me. 
J. Beaumont, Psyche, II. 18. 
Take a branch of the tree whereon they |the bees] pitch, 
and wipe the hive. Mortuner, Husbandry. 
A bud which . . . flowers beneath his sight ; 
And, in the middle, there Is softly pight 
A golden butterfly. Keatt, Endymion, II. 
3. To fix or decide : with on or upon. 
He 's the man I've pitched on 
My honshand for to be. 
Margaret nj Craignaraat (Child's Ballads, VIII. 252). 
Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will ren- 
der it the most easy. Tillotonn. 
Having pitched upon a time for his voyage, when the 
skies appeared propitious he exhorted all his crews to 
take a good night's rest. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 108. 
4. To plunge or fall headlong. 
Thereupon Zed pitched headforemost npon him across 
the streaming pile, and the couple rolled and pounded 
and kicked and crushed as before, 
W. M. Bater, New Timothy, p. 210. 
6. jYfluf., to plunge with alternate fall and rise 
of bow and stern, as a ship passing over waves. 
The motion is most marked when running into 
a head sea. 6. To throw, toss, or hurl a mis- 
sile or other object; throw a ball; specifically, 
in games of ball, to fill the position of pitcher; 
serve the ball to the batsman. 7. To buck; 
jump from the ground with the legs bunched 
together, as a mustang or mule. Sportnutn'l 
Gazetteer. See cut under butk% Pitch and payt, 
pay down at once ; pay ready money. 
Let senses rule; the word is Pilch and pay" ; 
Trust none. Shot., Hen. V., IL 3. 51. 
To pitch in. to begin ; set to work with promptness or 
energy. IColloq.) To pitch into, to attack; assault 
IColloq. | 
pitch 1 (pich), 11. [< piteftl, r. In def. 14 an 
assihilated form of pickl, n., of same ult. ori- 
gin.] 1. The highest point or reach; height; 
acme. 
Boniface the Thin!, in whom was the pitch of pride, and 
height of aspiring haughtiness. Fuller. 
2. Height (or depth) in general; point or de- 
gree of elevation (or of depth); degree; point. 
If a man begin too high a pilch In his favours, It doth 
commonly end in unkindness and iinthankfulness. 
lini-iin. Advancement of Learning, II. 312. 
To lowest pilch of abject fortune thou art fallen. 
Milton, 8. A., 1. 168. 
The chief actor In the poem falls from some eminent 
pilch of honour and prosperity into miser)' and disgrace. 
.1,/,/r..,,, Spectator, No. 287. 
To such an absurd pitch do the Moos'lims carry their 
feeling of the sacrednes* of women that entrance Into the 
tombs of some f enisles Is denied to men. 
B. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 224. 
3. In acouxtics and muxic: (a) That charac- 
teristic of a sound or a tone which depends 
upon the relative rapidity of the vibrations by 
which it is produced, a relatively acute or high 
pitch resulting from rapid vibrations, and a 
relatively grave or low pitch from slow vibra- 
tions. Pitch I* therefore coordinate with force, timbre, 
and duration. It la estimated and stated In term* of 
the vibration per second of the sounding body. It Is ex- 
perimentally determined either by direct comparison 
with a standard tunlng-f< irk or by such Instrninenta as the 
siren, (fc) A particular tonal standard or ex- 
ample with which given tones mav be com- 
pared in respect to their relative height: as, 
concert pitch; French ]>ilch. Various standards 
have from iinic to time been used or promulgated as, for 
example, domical pitch, during the last half of the elgh- 
t. cnili century, for the A next above middle C about 415 to 
'rations per second ; concert pitch (commonly called 
AiV/A pilch}, used In concert and operatic music during the 
middle of the nineteenth century, varying for the same A 
fiom alnmt 440 to 456 vibrations ; French pilch (common 
ly called Itnr pitch), the diapason normal adopted by the 
French Academy In 1850, for the same A 435 vibration* ; 
philim,phinl pilch, an arbitrary pitch for nnd.il. r. ,,!,- 
tallied by taking the nearest power of t, that Is, 266 vlbra- 
pitch 
tlons, or for the next A above about 427 vibrations ; .Si 
ler"! pitch, adopted by the Stuttgart Congress of I'hyaicist* 
in 18:14, for the same A 440 vibrations. 
Specifically 4. The height to which a hawk 
rises in the air when waiting for game to be 
flushed, or before stooping on its prey. 
The greatness of thy mind does oar a pitch 
Their dim eyes, darken 'd by their narrow soul*, 
Cannot arrive at 
Fletcher (and another). False One, v. 4. 
5t. Stature; height. 
So like In person, garb, and pitch. 
S. Butler, lludil.i.i-. III. III. 73. 
6. Inclination; angle to the horizon. 7. In 
mech.: (a) The distance between the centers 
of two adjacent teeth in a cog-wheel, measure. I 
on the pitch-line, which is concentric with the 
axis of revolution, and at such a distance from 
the base of the teeth as to have an equal rate 
of motion with a similar line in the cog-wheel 
with which it engages, (b) The distance be- 
tween the medial lines of any two successive 
convolutions or threads of a screw, measured in 
a direction parallel to the axis: the pitch of a 
propeller-screw is the length measured along 
the axis of a complete turn, (c) The distance 
between the paddles of a steamship, measured 
on the circle which passes through their cen- 
ters, (d) The distance between the stays of 
marine and other steam-boilers. () The dis- 
tance from center to center of rivets. (/) The 
rake of saw-teeth (see rake). 8. A throw; a 
toss; the act by which something is thrown or 
hurled from one or at something. Specifically, In 
bate-ball: (a) A throw or serve of the ball to the batter. 
(6) The right or turn to pitch the ball. 
9. A place on which to pitch or set up a booth 
or stand for the sale or exhibition of some- 
thing; a stand. [Eng.] 
In consequence of a New Police regulation, " stands " or 
11 pitches " have been forbidden, and each coster, on a mar- 
ket night. Is now obliged, under pain of the lock-up house, 
to carry his tray, or keep moving with his barrow. 
Mayheu; London Labour and London Poor, I. 12. 
10. In cartl-pkiyina, the game all-fours or seven- 
up played without begging, and with the trump 
made by leading (pitching) one of a selected 
suit, instead of being turned up after dealing. 
11. In miiiina, a certain lengthen the com-. 
of the lode, taken by a tributor, or to work on 
tribute. Also called tribute-pitch. [Cornwall, 
Eng., chiefly.] 12. In floor-cloth printing, one 
of the guide-pins used as registering-marks, 
corresponding to the register-points in litho- 
graphic printing. 13. In naral arch., down- 
ward angular displacement of the hull of a ves- 
sel, measured in a longitudinal vertical plane 
at right angles with and on either side of 
a horizontal transverse axis passing through 
the center of flotation: a correlative of m-i-ml 
(which see). 14. An iron crowbar with a 
thick square point, for making holes in the 
ground. Hnlliircll. [Prov. Eng.] Auction-pitch, 
a game of pitch In which the player entitled to pitch the 
trump may sell the privilege to the highest bidder, add- 
ing the points hid to his score before play, or may re- 
ject nil lilds and himself lead the play, failure to make as 
many points as the highest hid reducing the pitcher's score 
correspondingly. Gaining pitch, in a screw propeller, a 
pitch which Increases from the leading edge of the wings to 
the following edge. K. II. Knight. Head Of the pitches, 
In angling. See head.- Natural pitch. See natural. 
Pitch and hustle. See hurtle.- Pitch and toat See 
pUch-anil-tott. Pitch hyperbola. SecA.vprrWo.- Pitch 
Of an arch, the rise or height of an arch. Pitch Of a 
plane, the angle at which the Iron Is set in the stock. 
Common pitch, of 45 s from the horizontal line, is used in 
bench-planes adapted for soft woods ; half pitch, " r *'*' la 
used In molding-planes for mahogany and other woods 
difficult to work ; middle pitch, or 55, is used in molding- 
planes for deal and smoothlng-planes for mahogany and 
woods of like character; York pitch, or 5O" from the liori- 
7"i i, Is used In bench-planes for mahogany and other hard 
or stringy woods, and for wainscoting. The pitch "f 
metal-planes and scraping-planes Is 80". Pitch of a roof, 
the Inclination of a roof, it Is expressed In angular mea- 
surement, in parts of the spun, or in the |.r<>|>ortioii which 
the rafters hear to the span. The cttmmonpitch has a rafter 
three quarters the length of the span ; the (liithic has a 
rafter of the full length of the span ; the KluaMhan. a 
rafter longer than the span; the Oreek, an angle of from 
12" to 16"; and the Roman, an angle of from 2.T to 24'. 
Pitch of a saw, the Inclination of the face of the teeth. 
pitch 2 (pich), n. [< ME. pich, pyeh, pi/i-lu. 
pi/crln: assibilated forms of pit;, /nil;. pil'l.i . 
pylcJce (> Sc. pick), < AS. pic = OS. ( (Fries, pik 
/in-li. lull. MIKi. pi-i-ti, lucli, (i. firch = Iccl. I'il. 
= 8w. beck = Dan. beg = Gael, pie = W.pmi = 
OF. peiz, pois (> ME. pcyf, pttys, put"), F. ;>M 
= Hp. Pg. pez = It. pe <<.< 1.. i>i.r ( pic-), pitch. = 
(ir. -irci:, Attic Tirra (for *T/'*I/O), pitch, tuqien- 
fine.nlsotlielir-tree.= Lith./it'H/v. pitch; prol.. 
to (ir. T/7ir, the pine-tree. 1,. /.///\ (for 
i. the pine-tree: seejrfne 1 .] 1. A thick 
