pitching

▪ I. pitching, vbl. n.¹
    (ˈpɪtʃɪŋ)
    [f. pitch v.¹ + -ing¹.]
    The action of pitch v.¹; also concr.
    1. The action of fixing or planting in the ground or in some surface.

c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 137 Þe picching of þe naillis. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. i. xxxiv, Drawing twoo arche lines at euery pitchinge of the compas. 1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 567 The pitching of the wicket. 1850 ‘Bat’ Cricket. Man. 39 The pitching of the wickets devolves upon the umpires.

    2. The setting up of a tent or the like.

1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxxiii. (Bodl. MS.), Cenophagia..was icleped picchinge of tentes. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Assentamiento, placing, sitting, pitching of a campe. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas ii. ix. ¶3 These tents in the plain are of our pitching.

    3. The placing of goods in a market for sale; a payment charged for this.

1612 Indenture in G. G. Francis Orig. Charters Neath (1845), The towle custome the pitching the killage and anchoradge. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Pitching, a market term for unloading, and for the small charge paid to the carrier for looking after the empty packages and cloths, and returning them correctly.

    † 4. Fixing, determination. Obs.

1599 in Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 351 About the pitching of fines..and grants of copyhold land.

    † 5. ? Transfixing or spearing (of eels). Obs. Cf. pick n.¹ 4 d.

1674 Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds Bundle 99 No. 1v, For pitching, catching, and taking of eeles and floatfish.

    6. a. The action of setting, planting, or fixing in some place or position; spec. of stones in paving; also, the facing of a bank or slope with stones set on edge close together, as a protection against waves or currents.

1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 223 This Ball will require three Pitchings into the Mandrel. 1717 Tabor in Phil. Trans. XXX. 554 This Pitching or Paving. 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. §1672 Aberdeen granite is most extensively employed for curbs, trams, and pitching; the latter in thin cubes about 9 inches in depth, 3 inches in thickness, and not exceeding 18 inches in length. 1846 Hull & Lincoln Railw. Bill 11 Stones for building, pitching, and paving. 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 124 The expense of the facing of the bank comes next under consideration..In cases where pitching has been thought necessary, and that, 18 inches deep. 1891 Pall Mall G. 26 June 6/2 The Manchester Ship Canal..At many points where the pitching had not been completed, the soft earth was cut up into deep gullies, and the sandy slope looked blistered and threatening.

    b. concr. Pavement composed of cobbles or granite ‘setts’ firmly set up; also, a facing of stone on a bank or slope.

1693 E. Harley in 14th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. ii. 514 The court is levelled, and laid very dry..without any pitching. 1751 W. Halfpenny New Designs Farm Ho. 6, 138 Yards of pitching in the Court, Stable &c. 1828 Sporting Mag. XXII. 349, I made my horse stand bare footed on round stones, or pitching, as it is called. 1885 Warren & Cleverly Wanderings of Battle 102 The ponderous cannon thundered over the uneven pitching of the streets.

    c. The foundation of a macadamized road made of stones 6 or 8 inches deep, laid on edge by hand, so as to form an arched support for the broken metalling, and to distribute the weight of the traffic.

1830 Pract. Treat. Roads 8 (Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III.), Pitching is a foundation formed of large stones.

    7. The action of throwing, hurling, or ‘lofting’ something so that it may fall on a particular spot; esp. of a ball in certain games, as baseball, golf, (cf. pitch n.² 3). Also attrib.

1652 French Yorksh. Spa xi. 96, I commend walking, bowling, pitching of the bar, and leaping. 1858 N.Y. Tribune 18 Aug. 7/3 The pitching was good on both sides. 1896 H. Chadwick Spalding's Base Ball Guide 2 A new form of pitching tables are included in the records of the pitching of 1895. 1901 Scotsman 26 Mar. 5/3 (Golf) His pitching was quite equal to that of the Newbattle professional, and his putting was..superior. 1942 [see major a. 1 e]. 1944 College Topics (Univ. of Virginia) 30 Mar. 3 As for the pitching staff, there is plenty of material that will eventually develop into the team's strongest asset. 1948 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 15 Mar. 17/4 Blackwell learned how to throw it from Hal Schumacher, former New York Giants pitching star. 1969 Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard 3 Dec. 2d/4 Cal Ermer..landed a coaching job, as pitching tutor for Bristol's Seattle club. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 21 Feb. 19/2 (Advt.), Mickey Owen Baseball School... 4 Lighted Batting Cages, 2 Pitching Machines.

    8. a. The forward downward plunging of a ship.

1877 W. H. White Naval Archit. (1882) 210 The longitudinal oscillations of pitching and scending.

    b. Aeronaut. and Astronautics. Angular motion of an aircraft or spacecraft about a lateral axis (the pitching axis: see 12 below).

1912 G. Greenhill Dynamics Mech. Flight iv. 83 Rolling and pitching of a steamer or flying machine. 1915 A. Fage Aeroplane vi. 75 The following nomenclature has been adopted at the National Physical Laboratory:—[table] Name of axis..Lateral... Name of Motion which takes place about Axis..Pitching. 1935 C. G. Burge Encycl. Aviation 579/1 Rotary motion of the aeroplane about the lateral axis is called pitching. 1958 D. Piggott Gliding xiii. 78 To stop the pitching, the pilot must relax the backward pressure on the stick and reduce the climbing angle for a few moments. 1965 C. N. Van Deventer Introd. Gen. Aeronaut. v. 84/1 The lateral axis is the side-to-side axis about which the airplane revolves in pitching, when its nose and tail move up and down. 1968 T. de Galiana Conc. Encycl. Astronaut. 210/2 For a cylindrical spacecraft,..pitching is a movement of the nose up or down (that is, away from or towards the orbit focus).

    9. The interlocking or engaging of one cog-wheel with another, etc.

1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 486 The communication or action of one wheel with another is called the pitching. 1885 C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iv. 323/2 The fly pitching may next be examined.

    10. Brewing. (See pitch v.¹ 22.)
    11. The yellowish deposit on tanned leather: = bloom n.¹ 4 c.

1857 C. Tomlinson in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 8) XIII. 307/2 A portion of its gelatin..is, by combination with a portion of tannin..deposited upon its surfaces..in the form of a yellow deposit, technically known as bloom, or pitching.

    12. attrib. and Comb., as pitching-place, pitching-stand; pitching axis Aeronaut. and Astronautics, a lateral axis of an aircraft, etc., about which pitching takes place, usu. specified to be perpendicular to its longitudinal axis or to its direction of flight; of a spacecraft, one of two horizontal axes (cf. yawing axis s.v. yawing vbl. n.) which are perpendicular to each other and to the longitudinal axis; = pitch axis s.v. pitch n.² 26; pitching-bar = pitcher² 3; pitching-block (see quot.); pitching heat Brewing = pitching temperature; pitching-hole = pitch-hole¹ 1; pitching machine Brewing, a special kind of vessel in which pitching of the wort takes place; pitching moment Aeronaut., a moment tending to turn an aircraft, etc., about its pitching axis; pitching-pence n. pl. (see quot.); pitching-piece, a piece of timber at the top of a wooden staircase, supporting the ‘carriage’ or framework (correlative to the apron-piece, at the bottom); pitching-stables (see quot.); pitching-stone, a stone used for pitching a road: see 6 c; pitching-temperature, in Brewing, the temperature at which the wort is pitched (see pitch v.¹ 22); pitching-tool, (a) a prehistoric chisel, made of an antler or other hard substance, used with a hammer in flaking off flint, etc., for making arrow-heads, etc.; (b) in Watchmaking, a tool for placing the wheels of watches in position between the plates; (c) in Mining, ‘a kind of pick used in commencing a hole’ (Knight Dict. Mech.), a pitching-bar; pitching-yeast, yeast used or prepared for use in pitching wort.

1920 W. J. Walker tr. Devillers's Dynamics of Aeroplane xii. 234 The moment of inertia in movements about the *pitching axis plays the rôle of mass in rectilinear displacements. 1953 New Biol. XIV. 66 Stability can be related to any of the three axes—the rolling axis.., the yawing axis,..and the pitching axis (horizontally at right angles to the direction of flight). 1959 Pitching axis [see pitch axis s.v. pitch n.2 26].

1879 Jefferies Amateur Poacher ii. (1889) 29 The shepherd..threw his *pitching-bar over his shoulder.

1884 J. Payn Lit. Recollect. 211 The *pitching block, where the porters rest their burdens.

1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 275/1 The heat at which the wort is let down into the fermenting tun. This ‘*pitching heat’ varies very much. 1885 E. R. Southby Syst. Handbk. Pract. Brewing (ed. 2) xx. 335, I have already explained that this lowering of the pitching heat is by no means essential.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 47 Barns..intended for containing large quantities of different crops..should constantly be provided with convenient *pitching holes for housing them at.

1940 H. L. Hind Brewing II. 854 Simple *pitching machines consist of a cauldron, in which the pitch is melted over a coke fire or by gas, and forced by compressed air through a spraying nozzle into the cask. 1957 K. Barton-Wright tr. De Clerck's Textbk. Brewing I. xxii. 483 In modern pitching machines..the old lining is no longer removed with hot air,..but with very thinned pitch.

1913 Rep. & Mem. Advisory Comm. Aeronaut. No. 74. 10 Measurements of lift, drift, and *pitching moment at varying values of the pitching angle from - 10° to + 25°. 1931 Technol. Rev. Nov. 65/1 It seems inevitable that the next generation must know as much about ailerons, pitching moments, and dihedral angles, as the present one does about carburetors, differentials, and wheel bases. 1966 D. Stinton Anat. Aeroplane xi. 199 Further pitching moments..are introduced by wing-mounted stores,..engines, flaps and undercarriage units.

1706 Phillips, *Pitching-Pence, a Duty paid for pitching, or setting down every Sack of Corn or Pack of Merchandizes, in a Fair or Market.

1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 189 A *Pitching-piece is a piece of timber wedged into the wall..for supporting the rough strings at the top of the lower flight.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Pitching-stables, a kind of shaped Cornish granite, 4 or 6 inches long, used for paving.

1899 Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 5/1 To rent the casual cart stands, yearly cart stands, and yearly *pitching stands in the market.

1824 W. Deykes Pavement Metrop. 6 The adoption of squared paving stones instead of the small round ones called *pitchen stones. c 1830 Pract. Treat. Roads 8 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The weight of the flints themselves will form power enough to compose the road, without the solid assistance of the pitching-stones.

1957 Encycl. Brit. IV. 105/2 The *pitching temperature is held at 54–59° F. in American practice, slightly higher (58–60° F) in England.

1885 E. R. Southby Syst. Handbk. Pract. Brewing (ed. 2) xx. 320 The yeast cells of a good *pitching yeast should be separate from one another. 1956 [see polymyxin].

▪ II. ˈpitching, vbl. n.²
    [f. pitch v.² + -ing¹.]
    A smearing or coating with pitch.
    pitching-machine, a machine for pitching the insides of casks or barrels.

1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Poissement, a pitching with pitch. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 326 Without any calking or pitching..to keep out the water. 1822 T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 242 All the never-ending cares Of pitching, tarring, and repairs.

▪ III. ˈpitching, ppl. a.
    [f. pitch v.¹ + -ing².]
    That pitches, in various senses of the verb.
    1. Sloping, inclining; fig. declining. spec. in Geol. (cf. pitch v.¹ 20, pitch n.² 24 b).

1519 W. Horman Vulg. 177 That felde is beste, that is nat playne, euyn, and leuell, but somwhat pytchynge. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Cliuosus, a place stipe downe, or pitching downe. 1611 Bible Judg. xix. 9 margin, It is the pitching time of the day. 1641 J. Trappe Theol. Theol. vii. 286 As much as it is the pitching time of the day, Judg. 19. 9 it is the last houre. 1939 A. K. Lobeck Geomorphol. xvii. 595 The monoclinal ridges which result from the erosion of pitching synclines converge in a direction which is opposite to the pitch of the fold. 1960 B. W. Sparks Geomorphol. vii. 135 Pitching folds may be reflected in a pattern of converging and diverging ridges like that of certain sections of the Appalachians. 1968 C. R. Twidale Geomorphol. ii. 11 Folds whose outcrops narrow and widen, appear and disappear, are described as pitching or plunging folds.

    2. Plunging forwards: see pitch v.¹ 18, 19.

1800 Naval Chron. IV. 434 With a heavy pitching sea in the Sound. 1875 G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto xxiii, He crosses its undulating surface at that free pitching gallop which he seems so rarely to hasten. 1884 Pae Eustace 197 It was no easy matter to get over the side of the pitching vessel into the boats. 1906 Chambers's Jrnl. July 537/2 It is worth going some distance to see a vaquero sticking to a ‘pitching’ horse. 1948 Sat. Rev. 28 Aug. 37/1 Bucky Durant calmly rolled a cigarette as he sat atop the pitching bronc.

    3. Settling, alighting. rare or arch.

1900 Academy 8 Sept. 199/1 The voice's trill Sinks like a pitching bird; and all is still.

Oxford English Dictionary