Piston - Pithy

Prev Next

Piston (?), n. [F. piston; cf. It. pistone piston, also pestone a large pestle; all fr. L. pinsere, pistum, to pound, to stamp. See , .] (Mach.) A sliding piece which either is moved by, or moves against, fluid pressure. It usually consists of a short cylinder fitting within a cylindrical vessel along which it moves, back and forth. It is used in steam engines to receive motion from the steam, and in pumps to transmit motion to a fluid; also for other purposes.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Piston head (Steam Eng.), that part of a piston which is made fast to the piston rod. -- Coloq. Piston rod , a rod by which a piston is moved, or by which it communicates motion. -- Coloq. Piston valve (Steam Eng.), a slide valve, consisting of a piston, or connected pistons, working in a cylindrical case which is provided with ports that are traversed by the valve.
[ Webster]

Piston ring. (Mach.) A spring packing ring, or any of several such rings, for a piston.
[Webster Suppl.]

Pit (?), n. [OE. pit, put, AS. pytt a pit, hole, L. puteus a well, pit.] 1. A large cavity or hole in the ground, either natural or artificial; a cavity in the surface of a body; an indentation; specifically: (a) The shaft of a coal mine; a coal pit. (b) A large hole in the ground from which material is dug or quarried; as, a stone pit; a gravel pit; or in which material is made by burning; as, a lime pit; a charcoal pit. (c) A vat sunk in the ground; as, a tan pit.
[ Webster]

Tumble me into some loathsome pit. Shak.
[ Webster]

2. Any abyss; especially, the grave, or hades.
[ Webster]

Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chained. Milton.
[ Webster]

He keepth back his soul from the pit. Job xxxiii. 18.
[ Webster]

3. A covered deep hole for entrapping wild beasts; a pitfall; hence, a trap; a snare. Also used figuratively.
[ Webster]

The anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits. Lam. iv. 20.
[ Webster]

4. A depression or hollow in the surface of the human body; as: (a) The hollow place under the shoulder or arm; the axilla, or armpit. (b) See Pit of the stomach (below). (c) The indentation or mark left by a pustule, as in smallpox.
[ Webster]

5. Formerly, that part of a theater, on the floor of the house, below the level of the stage and behind the orchestra; now, in England, commonly the part behind the stalls; in the United States, the parquet; also, the occupants of such a part of a theater.
[ Webster]

6. An inclosed area into which gamecocks, dogs, and other animals are brought to fight, or where dogs are trained to kill rats. “As fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit.” Locke.
[ Webster]

7. [Cf. D. pit, akin to E. pith.] (Bot.) (a) The endocarp of a drupe, and its contained seed or seeds; a stone; as, a peach pit; a cherry pit, etc. (b) A depression or thin spot in the wall of a duct.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Cold pit (Hort.), an excavation in the earth, lined with masonry or boards, and covered with glass, but not artificially heated, -- used in winter for the storing and protection of half-hardly plants, and sometimes in the spring as a forcing bed. -- Coloq. Pit coal , coal dug from the earth; mineral coal. -- Coloq. Pit frame , the framework over the shaft of a coal mine. -- Coloq. Pit head , the surface of the ground at the mouth of a pit or mine. -- Coloq. Pit kiln , an oven for coking coal. -- Coloq. Pit martin (Zoöl.), the bank swallow. [Prov. Eng.] -- Coloq. Pit of the stomach (Anat.), the depression on the middle line of the epigastric region of the abdomen at the lower end of the sternum; the infrasternal depression. -- Coloq. Pit saw (Mech.), a saw worked by two men, one of whom stands on the log and the other beneath it. The place of the latter is often in a pit, whence the name. -- Coloq. pit stop , See in the vocabulary. -- Coloq. Pit viper (Zoöl.), any viperine snake having a deep pit on each side of the snout. The rattlesnake and copperhead are examples. -- Coloq. Working pit (Min.), a shaft in which the ore is hoisted and the workmen carried; -- in distinction from a shaft used for the pumps.
[ Webster]

Pit, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pitted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pitting.] 1. To place or put into a pit or hole.
[ Webster]

They lived like beasts, and were pitted like beasts, tumbled into the grave. T. Grander.
[ Webster]

2. To mark with little hollows, as by various pustules; as, a face pitted by smallpox.
[ Webster]

3. To introduce as an antagonist; to set forward for or in a contest; as, to pit one dog against another.
[ Webster]

Pita (?), 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.
[ Webster]

[ Webster]

Pitahaya (?), n. [Sp., prob. from the native name.] (Bot.) A cactaceous shrub (Cereus Pitajaya) of tropical America, which yields a delicious fruit.
[ Webster]

Pitapat (?), 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.
[ Webster]

Pitapat, n. A light, repeated sound; a pattering, as of the rain. “The pitapat of a pretty foot.” Dryden.
[ Webster]

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.
[ Webster]

He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith. Ecclus. xiii. 1.
[ Webster]

2. (Geol.) See .
[ Webster]

Coloq. Amboyna pitch , the resin of Dammara australis. See . -- Coloq. Burgundy pitch . See under . -- Coloq. Canada pitch , the resinous exudation of the hemlock tree (Abies Canadensis); hemlock gum. -- Coloq. Jew's pitch , bitumen. -- Coloq. Mineral pitch . See and . -- Coloq. Pitch coal (Min.), bituminous coal. -- Coloq. Pitch peat (Min.), a black homogeneous peat, with a waxy luster. -- Coloq. Pitch pine (Bot.), any one of several species of pine, yielding pitch, esp. the Pinus rigida of North America.
[ Webster]

Pitch, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pitched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pitching.] [See , n.] 1. To cover over or smear with pitch. Gen. vi. 14.
[ Webster]

2. Fig.: To darken; to blacken; to obscure.
[ Webster]

The welkin pitched with sullen could. Addison.
[ Webster]

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.
[ Webster]

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.
[ Webster]

3. To set, face, or pave with rubble or undressed stones, as an embankment or a roadway. Knight.
[ Webster]

4. To fix or set the tone of; as, to pitch a tune.
[ Webster]

5. To set or fix, as a price or value. [Obs.] Shak.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pitched battle , a general battle; a battle in which the hostile forces have fixed positions; -- in distinction from a skirmish. -- Coloq. To pitch into , to attack; to assault; to abuse. [Slang]
[ Webster]

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.
[ Webster]

2. To light; to settle; to come to rest from flight.
[ Webster]

The tree whereon they [the bees] pitch. Mortimer.
[ Webster]

3. To fix one's choise; -- with on or upon.
[ Webster]

Pitch upon the best course of life, and custom will render it the more easy. Tillotson.
[ Webster]

4. 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.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pitch and pay , an old aphorism which inculcates ready-money payment, or payment on delivery of goods. Shak.
[ Webster]

Pitch, n. 1. A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand; as, a good pitch in quoits.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pitch and toss , a game played by tossing up a coin, and calling “Heads or tails;” hence: Coloq. To play pitch and toss with (anything) , to be careless or trust to luck about it. “To play pitch and toss with the property of the country.” G. Eliot. -- Coloq. Pitch farthing . See Chuck farthing, under 5th .
[ Webster]

2. (Cricket) That point of the ground on which the ball pitches or lights when bowled.
[ Webster]

3. A point or peak; the extreme point or degree of elevation or depression; hence, a limit or bound.
[ Webster]

Driven headlong from the pitch of heaven, down
Into this deep. Milton.
[ Webster]

Enterprises of great pitch and moment. Shak.
[ Webster]

To lowest pitch of abject fortune. Milton.
[ Webster]

He lived when learning was at its highest pitch. Addison.
[ Webster]

The exact pitch, or limits, where temperance ends. Sharp.
[ Webster]

4. Height; stature. [Obs.] Hudibras.
[ Webster]

5. A descent; a fall; a thrusting down.
[ Webster]

6. 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.
[ Webster]

7. (Mus.) 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.
[ Webster]

☞ Musical tones with reference to absolute pitch, are named after the first seven letters of the alphabet; with reference to relative pitch, in a series of tones called the scale, they are called one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight is also one of a new scale an octave higher, as one is eight of a scale an octave lower.
[ Webster]

8. (Mining) The limit of ground set to a miner who receives a share of the ore taken out.
[ Webster]

9. (Mech.) (a) The distance from center to center of any two adjacent teeth of gearing, measured on the pitch line; -- called also circular pitch. (b) 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. (c) The distance between the centers of holes, as of rivet holes in boiler plates.
[ Webster]

10. (Elec.) 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.

Coloq. Concert pitch (Mus.), the standard of pitch used by orchestras, as in concerts, etc. -- Coloq. Diametral pitch (Gearing), the distance which bears the same relation to the pitch proper, or circular pitch, that the diameter of a circle bears to its circumference; it is sometimes described by the number expressing the quotient obtained by dividing the number of teeth in a wheel by the diameter of its pitch circle in inches; as, 4 pitch, 8 pitch, etc. -- Coloq. Pitch chain , a chain, as one made of metallic plates, adapted for working with a sprocket wheel. -- Coloq. Pitch line , or Coloq. Pitch circle (Gearing), an ideal line, in a toothed gear or rack, bearing such a relation to a corresponding line in another gear, with which the former works, that the two lines will have a common velocity as in rolling contact; it usually cuts the teeth at about the middle of their height, and, in a circular gear, is a circle concentric with the axis of the gear; the line, or circle, on which the pitch of teeth is measured. -- Coloq. Pitch of a roof (Arch.), the inclination or slope of the sides expressed by the height in parts of the span; as, one half pitch; whole pitch; or by the height in parts of the half span, especially among engineers; or by degrees, as a pitch of 30°, of 45°, etc.; or by the rise and run, that is, the ratio of the height to the half span; as, a pitch of six rise to ten run. Equilateral pitch is where the two sloping sides with the span form an equilateral triangle. -- Coloq. Pitch of a plane (Carp.), the slant of the cutting iron. -- Coloq. Pitch of poles (Elec.), the distance between a pair of poles of opposite sign. -- Coloq. Pitch pipe , a wind instrument used by choristers in regulating the pitch of a tune. -- Coloq. Pitch point (Gearing), the point of contact of the pitch lines of two gears, or of a rack and pinion, which work together.
[ Webster]

Pitch-black (?), a. Black as pitch or tar.
[ Webster]

Pitchblende (?), n. [1st pitch + blende.] (Min.) A pitch-black mineral consisting chiefly of the oxide of uranium; uraninite. See .
[ Webster]

Pitch-dark, a. Dark as a pitch; pitch-black.
[ Webster]

Pitcher (?), n. 1. One who pitches anything, as hay, quoits, a ball, etc.; specifically (Baseball), the player who delivers the ball to the batsman.
[ Webster]

2. A sort of crowbar for digging. [Obs.] Mortimer.
[ Webster]

Pitcher (?), n. [OE. picher, OF. pichier, OHG. pehhar, pehhāri; prob. of the same origin as E. beaker. Cf. .] 1. A wide-mouthed, deep vessel for holding liquids, with a spout or protruding lip and a handle; a water jug or jar with a large ear or handle.
[ Webster]

2. (Bot.) A tubular or cuplike appendage or expansion of the leaves of certain plants.
[ Webster]

Coloq. American pitcher plants , the species of Sarracenia. See . -- Coloq. Australian pitcher plant , the Cephalotus follicularis, a low saxifragaceous herb having two kinds of radical leaves, some oblanceolate and entire, others transformed into little ovoid pitchers, longitudinally triple-winged and ciliated, the mouth covered with a lid shaped like a cockleshell. -- Coloq. California pitcher plant , the Darlingtonia California. See . -- Coloq. Pitcher plant , any plant with the whole or a part of the leaves transformed into pitchers or cuplike organs, especially the species of Nepenthes. See .
[ Webster]

Pitcherful (?), n.; pl. Pitcherfuls (�). The quantity a pitcher will hold.
[ Webster]

Pitch-faced (?), a. (Stone Cutting) Having the arris defined by a line beyond which the rock is cut away, so as to give nearly true edges; -- said of squared stones that are otherwise quarry-faced.
[ Webster]

Pitchfork (?), n. A fork, or farming utensil, used in pitching hay, sheaves of grain, or the like.
[ Webster]

Pitchfork, v. t. To pitch or throw with, or as with, a pitchfork.
[ Webster]

He has been pitchforked into the footguards. G. A. Sala.
[ Webster]

Pitchiness (?), n. [From .] Blackness, as of pitch; darkness.
[ Webster]

Pitching, n. 1. The act of throwing or casting; a cast; a pitch; as, wild pitching in baseball.
[ Webster]

2. The rough paving of a street to a grade with blocks of stone. Mayhew.
[ Webster]

3. (Hydraul. Eng.) A facing of stone laid upon a bank to prevent wear by tides or currents.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pitching piece (Carp.), the horizontal timber supporting the floor of a platform of a stairway, and against which the stringpieces of the sloping parts are supported.
[ Webster]

Pitch-ore (?), n. (Min.) Pitchblende.
[ Webster]

Pitchstone (?), n. (Geol.) An igneous rock of semiglassy nature, having a luster like pitch.
[ Webster]

Pitchwork (?), n. The work of a coal miner who is paid by a share of his product.
[ Webster]

Pitchy (?), a. [From 1st .] 1. Partaking of the qualities of pitch; resembling pitch.
[ Webster]

2. Smeared with pitch.
[ Webster]

3. Black; pitch-dark; dismal. “Pitchy night.” Shak.
[ Webster]

Piteous (?), a. [OE. pitous, OF. pitos, F. piteux. See .] 1. Pious; devout. [Obs.]
[ Webster]

The Lord can deliver piteous men from temptation. Wyclif.
[ Webster]

2. Evincing pity, compassion, or sympathy; compassionate; tender. “[She] piteous of his case.” Pope.
[ Webster]

She was so charitable and so pitous. Chaucer.
[ Webster]

3. Fitted to excite pity or sympathy; wretched; miserable; lamentable; sad; as, a piteous case. Spenser.
[ Webster]

The most piteous tale of Lear. Shak.
[ Webster]

4. Paltry; mean; pitiful. “Piteous amends.” Milton.
[ Webster]

Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; affecting; doleful; woeful; rueful; sad; wretched; miserable; pitiable; pitiful; compassionate.
[ Webster]

-- Piteously, adv. -- Piteousness, n.
[ Webster]

Pitfall (?), n. A pit deceitfully covered to entrap wild beasts or men; a trap of any kind. Sir T. North.
[ Webster]

Pitfalling, a. Entrapping; insnaring. [R.] “Full of . . . contradiction and pitfalling dispenses.” Milton.
[ Webster]

Pith (?), n. [AS. pi�a; akin to D. pit pith, kernel, LG. peddik. Cf. a kernel.] 1. (Bot.) The soft spongy substance in the center of the stems of many plants and trees, especially those of the dicotyledonous or exogenous classes. It consists of cellular tissue.
[ Webster]

2. (a) (Zoöl.) The spongy interior substance of a feather. (b) (Anat.) The spinal cord; the marrow.
[ Webster]

3. Hence: The which contains the strength of life; the vital or essential part; concentrated force; vigor; strength; importance; as, the speech lacked pith.
[ Webster]

Enterprises of great pith and moment. Shak.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pith paper . Same as Rice paper, under .
[ Webster]

Pith, v. t. (Physiol.) To destroy the central nervous system of (an animal, as a frog), as by passing a stout wire or needle up and down the vertebral canal.
[ Webster]

Pithecanthropus (pĭth�kănthrōpŭs), prop. n. [NL.; Gr. piqhkos ape + 'anqrwpos man.] 1. A hypothetical genus of primates intermediate between man and the anthropoid apes. Haeckel.
[Webster Suppl.]

2. A genus consisting of an extinct primate (Pithecanthropus erectus) apparently intermediate between man and the existing anthropoid apes, known from bones first found in Java (hence called Java man) in 1891-92, and other bones found later. The species was renamed Homo erectus around 1960. The Javan bones are believed to be from 1.6 to 1.9 million years old, and include a thigh bone of the human type, two molar teeth intermediate between those of man and the anthropoids, and the calvaria of the skull, indicating a brain capacity of about 900 cubic centimeters, and resembling in form that of the Neanderthal man. Additional specimens of what are considerd as variants of the species have been found in China, Africa, and Europe. Homo erectus is currently believed to have evolved in Africa from Homo habilis, the first member of the genus Homo. Anatomically and physiologically, Homo erectus resembles contemporary humans except for having a stouter bone structure. Also [pl. -thropi (�)], an animal of this genus. -- Pithecanthrope (#), n. -- Pithecanthropoid (#), a.
[Webster Suppl. +PJC]

Pitheci (?), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. piqhkos an ape.] (Zoöl.) A division of mammals including the apes and monkeys. Sometimes used in the sense of Primates.
[ Webster]

Pithecoid (?), a. [Gr. � an ape + -oid.] (Zoöl.) 1. Of or pertaining to the genus Pithecia, or subfamily Pithecinæ, which includes the saki, ouakari, and other allied South American monkeys.
[ Webster]

2. Of or pertaining to the anthropoid apes in particular, or to the higher apes of the Old World, collectively.
[ Webster]

Pithful (?), a. Full of pith. [R.] W. Browne.
[ Webster]

Pithily (?), adv. In a pithy manner.
[ Webster]

Pithiness, n. The quality or state of being pithy.
[ Webster]

Pithless, a. Destitute of pith, or of strength; feeble. Dryden. “Pithless argumentation.” Glandstone.
[ Webster]

Pit-hole (?), n. A pit; a pockmark.
[ Webster]

Pithsome (?), a. Pithy; robust. [R.] “Pithsome health and vigor.” R. D. Blackmore.
[ Webster]

Pithy (?), a. [Compar. Pithier (?); superl. Pithiest.] 1. Consisting wholly, or in part, of pith; abounding in pith; as, a pithy stem; a pithy fruit.
[ Webster]

2. Having nervous energy; forceful; cogent.
[ Webster]

This pithy speech prevailed, and all agreed. Dryden.
[ Webster]

In all these Goodman Fact was very short, but pithy. Addison.
[ Webster]

Coloq. Pithy gall (Zoöl.), a large, rough, furrowed, oblong gall, formed on blackberry canes by a small gallfly (Diastrophus nebulosus).
[ Webster]

Prev Next

Concept Explore Home

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z