pitchfork
/ˈpɪt͡ʃˌfɔɹk/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.01 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An agricultural hand tool comprising a fork with sparse, light tines, attached to a long handle, used for pitching hay (especially loose hay) high up onto a stack (as on a wagon or haystack, or into a haymow).
noun
A similar fork with slightly more and heavier tines, used for mucking stalls and pitching soiled bedding into a wagon or manure spreader.
noun
Any fork used for farm labor, even a digging fork (but such usage is often considered ignorant by experienced farmers).
Informal
noun
A tuning fork.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "After my second illness, being too old for “piggy-back rides”, I generally sat in 'Resting Nuke' on a seat naturally formed in a low branch of a cedar, watching relatives down in the bay with pitchforks furiously digging out long black slithery "cockworms" from the muddy sands of Sinky Bay."
- "The city council was facing the pitchforks once the public had realized what the new ordinance entailed."
- "I went around with a pitchfork [tuning fork] in my pocket, and I'd hit it whenever I thought of it, and I developed perfect pitch […]"
- "The hay was soon pitchforked onto the wagon."
- "We have taken an age-old country, and we have suddenly, in 30 years, pitchforked it into the middle of the factory system."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: pichfork