<B>pitcher plant,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a plant with leaves somewhat like a pitcher. These leaves capture insects and digest them by means of a liquid secreted in the leaves. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchfork">
<B>pitchfork, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a large fork with a long wooden handle, used in lifting and throwing hay or straw; hayfork. A pitchfork has from two to six long, slightly curved steel prongs or tines. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to lift and throw with or as if with a pitchfork. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to thrust (a person) forcibly or unsuitably into some position or office. <BR> <I>Ex. Here he was ... pitchforked into a coil of scandal (Edith Wharton).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pitchingniblick">
<B>pitching niblick,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a golf club with a metal head that slopes at an angle flatter than that of a pitcher, but less than that of a niblick. It is usually called a "number 8 iron." </DL>
<A NAME="pitchline">
<B>pitch line,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an imaginary line passing through the teeth of a gearwheel, pinion, rack, or the like, so as to touch or coincide with the corresponding line in another gearwheel, pinion, rack, or the like, when the two are geared together. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in marble games) the line from which the players lag. It is outside the playing circle, opposite the lag line. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchman">
<B>pitchman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a person who sells small articles on the street or at fairs, carnivals, or the like. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who makes a sales pitch; one who sells or promotes a product, cause, idea, or undertaking, especially by high-pressure means; salesman. <BR> <I>Ex. a television pitchman. An adept pitchman, however, can get his customer half-hooked by telephone (New York Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pitchout">
<B>pitchout, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(in baseball) a wide pitch thrown to prevent the batter from hitting the ball and to give the catcher a chance to catch a runner off base. <DD><B> 2. </B>(in football) a lateral pass behind the line of scrimmage. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchpine">
<B>pitch pine,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a pine tree which yields pitch or turpentine, especially a pine of eastern North America with reddish-brown bark, needles in groups of three, and persistent cones. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchpipe">
<B>pitch pipe,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a small musical pipe having one or more notes, used to give the pitch for singing or for tuning an instrument. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchstone">
<B>pitchstone, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> obsidian or other vitreous rock that looks like hardened pitch. </DL>
<A NAME="pitchy">
<B>pitchy, </B>adjective, <B>pitchier,</B> <B>pitchiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of pitch; bituminous or resinous. <DD><B> 2. </B>coated, smeared, or sticky with pitch. <DD><B> 3. </B>of the nature or consistency of pitch; sticky. <DD><B> 4. </B>as black as pitch; pitch-black. <BR> <I>Ex. thick pitchy smoke (Nicholas Wiseman).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) pitch-dark; intensely dark. </DL>
<A NAME="pitdog">
<B>pit dog,</B> <B>=pit bull </B>(def. 1).</DL>
<A NAME="piteous">
<B>piteous, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to be pitied; moving the heart; deserving pity. <BR> <I>Ex. The starving children were a piteous sight.</I> (SYN) pathetic, pitiable. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic.) full of pity; compassionate; merciful. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Obsolete.) paltry; mean. adv. <B>piteously.</B> noun <B>piteousness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pitfall">
<B>pitfall, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any trap or hidden danger. <BR> <I>Ex. The road to conquest of poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, has been long and full of pitfalls (Science News Letter).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a hidden pit to catch animals or men in. </DL>
<A NAME="pith">
<B>pith, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>the central, spongy tissue in the stems and branches of dicotyledonous plants; medulla. <BR> <I>Ex. The roots of most dicotyledonous plants lack a pith, the xylem extending to the center (Harbaugh and Goodrich).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the internal parenchymatous tissue of certain other stems, such as palms and rushes. <BR> <I>Ex. Sago is made from the starchy pith of the palm trunk (Arthur W. Galston).</I> <DD><B> c. </B>a similar tissue occurring in other parts of plants, such as that lining the rind of the orange and certain other fruits. <DD><B> 2. </B>the soft inner substance of a spinal column, bone, feather, or the like; marrow. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) the important or essential part; essence; substance. <BR> <I>Ex. the pitch of a speech. It's his abdominable pride, that's the pith of the matter (Cardinal Newman).</I> (SYN) gist. <DD><B> 4. </B>strength; energy; vigor. <BR> <I>Ex. his look of native pith and genuine power (Charlotte Bronte).</I> (SYN) force. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to remove or extract the pith from (plants). <DD><B> 2. </B>to pierce or sever the spinal cord of (an animal) so as to kill it or render it insensible. </DL>
<A NAME="pithead">
<B>pithead, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the entrance to a mine. <DD><B> 2. </B>the ground surrounding it. </DL>
<B>pithecanthropine, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the same group as Pithecanthropus. <BR> <I>Ex. a pithecanthropine skeleton.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> a pithecanthropine animal. <BR> <I>Ex. The skeleton of the pithecanthropines is in every way hominid (Ashley Montagu).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pithecanthropoid">
<B>pithecanthropoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>resembling a Pithecanthropus. <DD><B> 2. </B>related to a Pithecanthropus. <DD><I>noun </I> a pithecanthropoid animal. </DL>
<A NAME="pithecanthropus">
<B>Pithecanthropus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-pi.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> one of a group of extinct ape men, approximating man in bodily form but with a much smaller brain capacity, whose existence about 500,000 years ago (in the Pleistocene) is assumed from remains first found in Java in 1891; Java man. The group has been viewed by some as a link between apes and men, and by others as a kind of man, and is considered to have been related to Peking man. </DL>
<A NAME="pithecoid">
<B>pithecoid, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>resembling the apes, especially the anthropoid apes; simian. <DD><B> 2. </B>having to do with the apes. </DL>
<A NAME="pithhelmet">
<B>pith helmet,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a helmet-shaped sun hat made originally of the dried pith of the East Indian sola or spongewood, but now made of various substances; sola topee. </DL>
<A NAME="pithiatism">
<B>pithiatism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Medicine.) <DD><B> 1. </B>a disorder caused by suggestion, such as forms of hysteria. <DD><B> 2. </B>the cureof mental disorders by persuasion. </DL>
<A NAME="pithily">
<B>pithily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a pithy manner; tersely and forcibly; concisely. </DL>
<A NAME="pithiness">
<B>pithiness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the quality or character of being pithy. </DL>
<B>pithos, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a very large, wide-mouthed, earthenware jar of spheroidal form, used in ancient Greece for storing wine, oil, or grain. </DL>
<A NAME="pithy">
<B>pithy, </B>adjective, <B>pithier,</B> <B>pithiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of substance, meaning, force, or vigor; crisply concise and to the point. <BR> <I>Ex. pithy phrases, a pithy speaker.</I> (SYN) pointed. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or like pith. <DD><B> 3. </B>having much pith. <BR> <I>Ex. a pithy orange.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="pitiable">
<B>pitiable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to be pitied; moving the heart; deserving pity. <BR> <I>Ex. The sick cat was a pitiable sight.</I> (SYN) lamentable, deplorable. <DD><B> 2. </B>deserving contempt; to be scorned; mean; contemptible; miserable. <BR> <I>Ex. His half-hearted attempts to help with the work were pitiable.</I> noun <B>pitiableness.</B> adv. <B>pitiably.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pitier">
<B>pitier, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who pities. </DL>
<A NAME="pitiful">
<B>pitiful, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to be pitied; moving the heart; deserving pity; piteous; lamentable. <BR> <I>Ex. a pitiful story, a pitiful sight.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>feeling pity; feeling sorrow for the trouble of others; tender. <BR> <I>Ex. The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy (James 5:11).</I> (SYN) compassionate, merciful. <DD><B> 3. </B>deserving contempt; to be scorned; mean. <BR> <I>Ex. Driving away after hitting a dog is a pitiful act.</I> adv. <B>pitifully.</B> noun <B>pitifulness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pitiless">
<B>pitiless, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> without pity or mercy; merciless. <BR> <I>Ex. Russians, pitiless as proud (William Cowper). The pelting of this pitiless storm (Shakespeare).</I> (SYN) ruthless. adv. <B>pitilessly.</B> noun <B>pitilessness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pitman">
<B>pitman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men</B> or (for def. 3) <B>-mans.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a man who works in a pit or mine, especially a coal mine. <DD><B> 2. </B>a sawyer's helper who stands in a pit below the timber to be sawed and works the lower end of a pitsaw. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=connecting rod.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="pitometerlog">
<B>pitometer log,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a Pitot tube projecting from a ship's hull to measure speed and distance traveled. </DL>
<A NAME="piton">
<B>piton, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an iron bar or spike with a ring in one end to which a rope can be secured, used in mountain climbing. <DD><B> 2. </B>a mountain peak or peaklike formation of rock that rises sharply and abruptly to a point. </DL>
<A NAME="pitotstatictube">
<B>Pitot-static tube,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a device combining a Pitot tube and a static tube, used to determine the speed of the air or other fluid by measuring the difference in pressure between moving and still fluid. The Pitot-static tube measures the ship or aircraft speed by variation in pressure. </DL>
<A NAME="pitottube">
<B>Pitot tube,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a bent tube with an open end pointed against the flow of a gas or liquid, used for determining the velocity of fluids. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=Pitot-static tube.</B> </DL>
