Pita to Pitman
Pita
(||Pi"ta) n. [Sp.] (Bot.) (a) A fiber obtained from the Agave Americana and other related species,
— used for making cordage and paper. Called also pita fiber, and pita thread. (b) The plant which
yields the fiber.
Pitahaya
(Pit`a*ha"ya) n. [Sp., prob. from the native name.] (Bot.) A cactaceous shrub (Cereus Pitajaya)
of tropical America, which yields a delicious fruit.
Pitapat
(Pit"a*pat`) adv. [An onomatopoetic reduplication of pat a light, quick blow.] In a flutter; with
palpitation or quick succession of beats. Lowell. "The fox's heart went pitapat." L'Estrange.
Pitapat
(Pit"a*pat`), n. A light, repeated sound; a pattering, as of the rain. "The pitapat of a pretty foot."
Dryden.
Pitch
(Pitch) n. [OE. pich, AS. pic, L. pix; akin to Gr. .]
1. A thick, black, lustrous, and sticky substance obtained by boiling down tar. It is used in calking the
seams of ships; also in coating rope, canvas, wood, ironwork, etc., to preserve them.
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. —
Jew's pitch, bitumen. — 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.
Pitch
(Pitch), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pitched ; p. pr. & vb. n. Pitching.] [See Pitch, n.]
1. To cover over or smear with pitch. Gen. vi. 14.
2. Fig.: To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
The welkin pitched with sullen could.
Addison. Pitch
(Pitch) v. t. [OE. picchen; akin to E. pick, pike.]
1. To throw, generally with a definite aim or purpose; to cast; to hurl; to toss; as, to pitch quoits; to pitch
hay; to pitch a ball.
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]
Pitch
(Pitch), v. i.
1. To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp. "Laban with his brethren pitched in the
Mount of Gilead." Gen. xxxi. 25.
