Pitch

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) 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.

(2): ( n.) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.

(3): ( n.) The distance between symmetrically arranged or corresponding parts of an armature, measured along a line, called the pitch line, drawn around its length. Sometimes half of this distance is called the pitch.

(4): ( n.) A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand; as, a good pitch in quoits.

(5): ( n.) The distance from center to center of any two adjacent teeth of gearing, measured on the pitch line; - called also circular pitch.

(6): ( n.) A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound.

(7): ( n.) Height; stature.

(8): ( n.) A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.

(9): ( n.) 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.

(10): ( n.) 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.

(11): ( n.) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.

(12): ( n.) The distance between the centers of holes, as of rivet holes in boiler plates.

(13): ( v. i.) 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.

(14): ( n.) Fig.: To darken; to blacken; to obscure.

(15): ( v. i.) To fix one's choise; - with on or upon.

(16): ( v. i.) To light; to settle; to come to rest from flight.

(17): ( v. i.) To fix or place a tent or temporary habitation; to encamp.

(18): ( v. t.) 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.

(19): ( v. t.) To set or fix, as a price or value.

(20): ( v. t.) To fix or set the tone of; as, to pitch a tune.

(21): ( v. t.) To set, face, or pave with rubble or undressed stones, as an embankment or a roadway.

(22): ( v. t.) 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.

(23): ( n.) 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.

(24): ( n.) To cover over or smear with pitch.

(25): ( n.) See Pitchstone.

King James Dictionary

PITCH, n. L. pix Gr. most probably named from its thickness or inspissation L. figo.

1. A thick tenacious substance,the juice of a species of pine or fir called abies picea, obtained by incision from the bark of the tree. When melted and pressed in bags of cloth, it is received into barrels. This is white or Burgundy pitch by mixture with lampblack it is converted into black pitch. When kept long in fusion with vinegar, it becomes dry and brown, and forms colophony. The smoke of pitch condensed forms lampblack. 2. The resin of pine, or turpentine, inspissated used in caulking ships and paying the sides and bottom.

PITCH, n. from the root of pike, peak.

1. Literally, a point hence, any point or degree of elevation as a high pitch lowest pitch.

How high a pitch his resolution soars.

Alcibiades was one of the best orators of his age, notwithstanding he lived when learning was at its highest pitch.

2. Highest rise. 3. Size stature.

So like in person, garb and pitch.

4. Degree rate.

No pitch of glory from the grave is free.

5. The point where a declivity begins, or the declivity itself descent slope as the pitch of a hill. 6. The degree of descent or declivity. 7. A descent a fall a thrusting down. 8. Degree of elevation of the key-note of a tune or of any note.

Pitch, L figo, to fix, and uniting pike, pique with fix.

1. To throw or thrust, and primarily, to thrust a long or pointed object hence, to fix to plant to set as, to pitch a tent or pavilion, that is, to set the stakes. 2. To throw at a point as, to pitch quoits. 3. To throw headlong as, to pitch one in the mire or down a precipice. 4. To throw with a fork as, to pitch hay or sheaves of corn. 5. To regulate or set the key-note of a tune in music. 6. To set in array to marshal or arrange in order used chiefly in the participle as a pitched battle. 7. from pitch. To smear or pay over with pitch as, to pitch the seams of a ship.

PITCH, To light to settle to come to rest from flight.

Take a branch of the tree on which the bees pitch, and wipe the hive.

1. To fall headlong as, to pitch from a precipice to pitch on the head. 2. To plunge as, to pitch into a river. 3. To fall to fix choice with on or upon.

Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the most easy.

4. To fix a tent or temporary habitation to encamp.

Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead.  Genesis 31

5. In navigation, to rise and fall, as the head and stern of a ship passing over waves. 6. To flow or fall precipitously, as a river.

Over this rock, the river pitches in one entire sheet.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Zepheth (from a root "to flow" ) in its liquid state; Chemar (from a root "to bubble up") solid; Kopher , as used in covering (from a root "to cover") woodwork, to make it watertight ( Genesis 6:14); asphalt, bitumen. The town Ιs (Hit ), eight days' journey from Babylon, supplied from springs the bitumen which was used as mortar in building that city ( Genesis 11:3; Herodotus i. 179). Athenaeus (2:5) mentions a lake near Babylon abounding in bitumen which floated on the water. Bitumen pits are still found at Hit on the western bank of Euphrates; so tenacious is it "that it is almost impossible to detach one brick from another" (Layard, Nin. and Bab.). Asphalt is opaque, and inflammable, bubbling up liquid from subterranean fountains and hardening by exposure. Pitch or bitumen made the papyrus ark of Moses watertight ( Exodus 2:3).

The Dead Sea was called Lacus Αsphaltites from the asphalt springs at its southern end, the vale of Siddim ( Genesis 14:3;  Genesis 14:10). The Salt Sea after Sodom's destruction spread over this vale. At the shallow southern end of the sea are the chief deposits of salt and bitumen. The asphalt crust on the bed of the lake is cast out by earthquakes and other causes (Josephus B. J. 4:8, section 4; Tac. Hist. 5:6). The inflammable pitch ( Isaiah 34:9) on all the plain, ignited by the lightning, caused "the smoke of the country to go up as the smoke of a furnace" ( Genesis 19:28). Κopher means also a "ransom" or "atonement" ( Job 33:21 margin). As the pitch covered the ark from the overwhelming waters, so the atonement covers the believer in Jesus from the blood of God's wrath. Κippurim , "atonement" ( Exodus 29:36;  Leviticus 23:27), and Kapporeth , "mercy-seat," the covering of the ark and the law inside it ( Romans 3:25;  Romans 10:4), are related.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

ופת ,  Exodus 2:3;  Isaiah 34:9; Septuagint ασφαλτος ; a fat, combustible, oily matter, sometimes called asphaltos, from the lake Asphaltites, or Dead Sea, in Judea, on the surface of which it rises in the nature of liquid pitch, and floats like other oleaginous bodies; but is condensed by degrees, through the heat of the sun, and grows dry and hard. The word which our translators have rendered pitch in   Genesis 6:14 , and חמר , slime,   Genesis 11:3;  Genesis 14:10 , is generally supposed to be bitumen. In the first of these places it is mentioned as used for smearing the ark, and closing its interstices. It was peculiarly adapted to this purpose. Being at first soft, viscous, and pliable, it might be thrust into every chasm and crevice with the greatest ease; but would soon acquire a tenacity and hardness superior to those of our pitch. A coat of it spread over both the inside and outside of the ark would make it perfectly water proof. The longer it was kept in the water, the harder and stronger it would grow. The Arabs still use it for careening their vessels. In the second passage it is described as applied for cement in building the tower of Babel. It was much used in ancient buildings in that region; and, in the ruins of Babylon, large masses of brick work cemented with it are discovered. It is known that the plain of Shinar did abound with it, both in its liquid and solid state; that there was there a cave and fountain which was continually casting it out; and that the famous tower and no less famous walls of Babylon were built by this kind of cement, is confirmed by the testimony of several ancient authors. The slime pits of Siddim,  Genesis 14:10 , were holes out of which issued this liquid bitumen, or naphtha. Bitumen was formerly much used by the Egyptians and Jews in the embalming the bodies of their dead.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Pitch. The three Hebrew words so translated all represent the same object, namely, Mineral Pitch or Asphalt In Its Different Aspects. Asphalt is an opaque, inflammable substance which bubbles up from subterranean fountains in a liquid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, but readily melts under the influence of heat.

In the latter state, it is very tenacious, and was used as a cement, in lieu of mortar in Babylonia, ( Genesis 11:3, as well as for coating the outside of vessels,  Genesis 6:14, and particularly, for making the papyrus boats of the Egyptians water-tight.  Exodus 2:3. The Jews and Arabians got their supply, in large quantities, from the Dead Sea, which, hence, received its classical name of Lacus Asphaltites .

Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words

1: Πήγνυμι (Strong'S #4078 — Verb — pegnumi — payg'-noo-mee )

"to make fast, to fix" (cp. prospegnumi,  Acts 2:23 , of crucifixion), is used of "pitching" a tent; in  Hebrews 8:2 , of the "true tabernacle," the heavenly and spiritual, which "the Lord pitched."

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A kind of bitumen. Noah covered the ark with pitch inside and outside.  Genesis 6:14 . The ark in which the infant Moses was put, was likewise thus rendered waterproof.  Exodus 2:3 . Among God's judgements on the earth the streams are turned into pitch, and the land into burning pitch.  Isaiah 34:9 . Different words are employed in the Hebrew of  Genesis 6:14 from the other passages. Noah was to pitch ( kaphar , 'to cover,' often translated 'atonement') the ark with pitch ( kopher, translated 'ransom') as if to teach that Noah and those with him could be saved only by being covered with a ransom, and which would introduce them to a new earth.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 6:14   Exodus 2:3 , translated "slime" in  Genesis 11:3   14:10 , is properly bitumen or asphaltum, anciently found on and near the Dead Sea, which was hence called the lake Asphaltities. It abounded in the vicinity of Babylon, and was used as fuel. The ark of Noah and that of Moses were rendered waterproof by it; and the bricks of the tower of Babel were cemented with it. It is commonly found in a solid state; but being liquefied by heat, and used as a mortar, it becomes as hard as the rocks it cements together. It is still thrown up by earthquakes from the bottom of the Dead Sea, and floats to the shore sometimes in large masses. See SEA 3.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 6:14 Genesis 11:3 14:10 Exodus 2:3 Isaiah 34:9Slime

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 6:14 Exodus 2:3 Isaiah 34:9 2 Genesis 6:14

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

PITCH . See Bitumen.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the rendering in the A. V. of two Hebrew words, ze'pheth, זְפֶת , and Ko'Pher, כֹּפֶר . The former is from the root Zuph, זוּפ , to flow, or Be Liquid (like the German Schmalz, from the verb Schmelzen) ( Exodus 2:3;  Isaiah 34:9; comp. Mishna, Schab. 2). The latter is from the root כָּפִר , To Cover or Smear, and is used in  Genesis 6:14, where the Sept. has Ἄσφαλτον , the Vulg. Bitumen. The word חֵמָר , Chemar, rendered "slime" ( Genesis 11:3;  Genesis 14:10; Exodus 2, 3), likewise belongs here. The three Hebrew terms all represent the same object, viz. mineral pitch or asphalt, in its different aspects: Zepheth (the Zift of the modern Arabs, Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 2, 120) in its liquid state, Chem '''''Â''''' R'' in its solid state, from its red color, though also explained in reference to the manner in which it boils up (the former, however, being more consistent with the appearance of the two terms in juxtaposition in  Exodus 2:3; A.V. "pitch and slime"); and kopher, in reference to its use in overlaying wood-work ( Genesis 6:14). Asphalt is an opaque, inflammable substance, which bubbles up from subterranean fountains in a liquid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, but readily melts under the influence of heat. In the latter state it is very tenacious, and was used as a cement in lieu of mortar in Babylonia ( Genesis 11:3; Strabo, 16:743; Herod. 1, 179), as well as for coating the outsides of vessels ( Genesis 6:14; Josephus, War, 4, 8, 4), and particularly for making the papyrus boats of the Egyptians water-tight ( Exodus 2:3; Wilkinson, 2, 120). The Babylonians obtained their chief supply from springs at Is (the modern Hit), which are still in existence (Herod. 1, 179). The Jews and Arabians got theirs in large quantities from the Dead Sea, which hence received its classical name of Lacus Asphaltites. The latter was particularly prized for its purple hue (Pliny, 28:23). In the early ages of the Bible the slime-pits ( Genesis 14:10), or springs of asphalt, were apparent in the vale of Siddim, at the southern end of the sea. They are now concealed through the submergence of the plain, and the asphalt probably forms itself into a crust on the bed of the lake, whence it is dislodged by earthquakes or other causes. Early writers describe the masses thus thrown up on the surface of the lake as of very considerable size (Josephus, War, 4, 8,4; Tacit. Hist. 5, 6; Diod. Sic. 2, 48). This is now a rare occurrence (Rooinson, 1, 517), though small pieces may constantly be picked up on the shore. The inflammable nature of pitch is noticed in  Isaiah 34:9. (See Aphaltum); (See Bitumen).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

pich  : The translation of the noun לּפר , kōpher , and the verb כּפר , kāphar , in   Genesis 6:14 and of the noun זפת , zepheth , in  Exodus 2:3;  Isaiah 34:9 . In  Genesis 6:14 the words are the ordinary forms for "covering," "cover," so that the translation "pitch" is largely guesswork, aided by the Septuagint, which reads ἄσφαλτος , ásphaltos , "bitumen," here, and by the fact that pitch is a usual "covering" for vessels. The meaning of zepheth , however, is fixed by the obvious Dead Sea imagery of  Isaiah 34:9-15 - the streams and land of Edom are to become burning bitumen, like the sites of Sodom and Gomorrah. In   Exodus 2:3 zepheth is combined with ḥēmār , which also means bitumen ( Genesis 14:10; see Slime ), and the distinction between the words (different consistencies of the same substance?) is not clear.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

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