PITCHER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pitcher mean? 

• PITCHER (noun)
  The noun PITCHER has 5 senses:

1. (baseball) the person who does the pitching

2. an open vessel with a handle and a spout for pouring

3. the quantity contained in a pitcher

4. (botany) a leaf that that is modified in such a way as to resemble a pitcher or ewer

5. the position on a baseball team of the player who throws the ball for a batter to try to hit

  Familiarity information: PITCHER used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PITCHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(baseball) the person who does the pitching

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

hurler; pitcher; twirler

Context example:

our pitcher has a sore arm

Hypernyms ("pitcher" is a kind of...):

ballplayer; baseball player (an athlete who plays baseball)

thrower (someone who projects something (especially by a rapid motion of the arm))

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

softball; softball game (a game closely resembling baseball that is played on a smaller diamond and with a ball that is larger and softer)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pitcher"):

left-handed pitcher; left-hander; left hander; lefthander; lefty; southpaw (a baseball pitcher who throws the ball with the left hand)

right-handed pitcher; right-hander ((baseball) a pitcher who throws with the right hand)

fireman; relief pitcher; reliever (a pitcher who does not start the game)

screwballer ((baseball) a pitcher who throws screwballs)

starting pitcher ((baseball) a pitcher who starts in a baseball game)

Derivation:

pitch (throw or hurl from the mound to the batter, as in baseball)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An open vessel with a handle and a spout for pouring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

ewer; pitcher

Hypernyms ("pitcher" is a kind of...):

vessel (an object used as a container (especially for liquids))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pitcher"):

cream pitcher; creamer (a small pitcher for serving cream)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The quantity contained in a pitcher

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

pitcher; pitcherful

Hypernyms ("pitcher" is a kind of...):

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(botany) a leaf that that is modified in such a way as to resemble a pitcher or ewer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("pitcher" is a kind of...):

foliage; leaf; leafage (the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration in higher plants)

Domain category:

botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The position on a baseball team of the player who throws the ball for a batter to try to hit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

mound; pitcher

Context example:

they have a southpaw on the mound

Hypernyms ("pitcher" is a kind of...):

position ((in team sports) the role assigned to an individual player)

Holonyms ("pitcher" is a member of...):

baseball team (a team that plays baseball)

 Context examples 

Then Clever Elsie took the pitcher from the wall, went into the cellar, and tapped the lid briskly as she went, so that the time might not appear long.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

A deal table ran down the centre, with a wooden wine-pitcher upon it and two horn cups.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She approached the basin, and bent over it as if to fill her pitcher; she again lifted it to her head.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Jo's one strong point was the fruit, for she had sugared it well, and had a pitcher of rich cream to eat with it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

After this, Mrs. Crupp confined herself to making pitfalls on the stairs, principally with pitchers, and endeavouring to delude Peggotty into breaking her legs.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And again, she would send one of her toddlers in to him with a great pitcher of hot soup, debating inwardly the while whether she was justified in taking it from the mouths of her own flesh and blood.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They did as they were desired; and by the time she judged it reasonable to have done with her boot, she had the comfort of farther delay in her power, being overtaken by a child from the cottage, setting out, according to orders, with her pitcher, to fetch broth from Hartfield.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The next day commenced as before, getting up and dressing by rushlight; but this morning we were obliged to dispense with the ceremony of washing; the water in the pitchers was frozen.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

My aunt had obtained a signal victory over Mrs. Crupp, by paying her off, throwing the first pitcher she planted on the stairs out of window, and protecting in person, up and down the staircase, a supernumerary whom she engaged from the outer world.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She took nothing with her but a little ring which her father and mother had given her, a loaf of bread in case she should be hungry, a little pitcher of water in case she should be thirsty, and a little stool to rest upon when she should be weary.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)