pitchfork
Syllables: pitch·fork/ˈpɪt͡ʃˌfɔɹk/
pitchfork 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
pitchfork (plural pitchforks)
- 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).
- A similar fork with slightly more and heavier tines, used for mucking stalls and pitching soiled bedding into a wagon or manure spreader.
- 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.1979, Nellie Eileen Musson, Mind the Onion Seed: Black "roots" Bermuda: Presented During Bermuda's First Heritage Week, May, 1979
- Synonyms:
- dungfork, manure fork, graip
- Any fork used for farm labor, even a digging fork (but such usage is often considered ignorant by experienced farmers).
- An angry mob; the power or effects of such a mob.
- The city council was facing the pitchforks once the public had realized what the new ordinance entailed.
- A tuning fork.
- 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 […]1988, Tony Trischka, Pete Wernick, Masters of the 5-String Banjo: In Their Own Words and Music, page 400
Verb
pitchfork (third-person singular simple present pitchforks, present participle pitchforking, simple past and past participle pitchforked)
- To toss or carry with a pitchfork.
- The hay was soon pitchforked onto the wagon.
- To throw suddenly.
- We have taken an age-old country, and we have suddenly, in 30 years, pitchforked it into the middle of the factory system.1925, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, The Parliamentary Debates, Official Report
Proper noun capitalized: Pitchfork
Pitchfork (plural Pitchforks)
- A surname.
pitchfork meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
pitchfork in Hindi
- पिचफोर्क, पिचफॉर्क
pitchfork in Tamil
- கவர்கோல்
pitchfork in Marathi
- पिचफोर्क, पिचफोर्क करण्यासाठी
pitchfork in Urdu
- پچفورک
More languagesFewer languages
- pitchfork in Bengali
- পিচফোর্ক, পিচফর্ক
- pitchfork in Telugu
- పిచ్ఫోర్క్, పిచ్ఫోర్కుకు
- pitchfork in Malayalam
- പിച്ച്ഫോർക്ക്, പിച്ഫോർക്ക്, പിച്ച്ഫോർക്കിലേക്ക്
- pitchfork in Kannada
- ಕವಲುಗೋಲು, ಕವೆಗೋಲು, ಕವೆಗೈ
- pitchfork in Punjabi
- ਪਿੱਚਫੋਰਕ, ਪਿਚਫੋਰਕ, ਪਿੱਚਫੌਰਕ
- pitchfork in Gujarati
- પિચફોર્ક, પીચફોર્ક, પિચ્ફોર્ક
- pitchfork in Odia
- ପିଚ୍ଫୋର୍କ, ପିଚଫୋର୍କ, ପିଚ୍ଫୋର୍କ୍
- pitchfork in Nepali
- पिचफोर्क, पिच्फोर्क, पिचफर्क
- pitchfork in Arabic
- شَوْكَة šawka, مِذْرَاة miḏrāh
- pitchfork in Persian
- هید heyd, چنگک čangak
- pitchfork in Thai
- คราด krâat
- pitchfork in Vietnamese
- chĩa
Examples of pitchfork in a sentence
- The mob of angry villagers carried torches and pitchforks to the vampire’s castle.
- The deal with four tines is called a pitchfork.
- A fashion-plate showing human pitchforks in garments which looked as hard as steel plate.
Synonyms of pitchfork
- dungfork
- manure fork
- graip
- hurl
- pitch
Forms of pitchfork
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pitchforks |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pitchforks |
| present participle | pitchforking |
| past participle | pitchforked |
| past | pitchforked |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Pitchforks |
Origin of pitchfork
From Middle English pichfork, pycchefork, pychforke, pikeforke, pikkforke, pic-forcke, equivalent to pitch (verb) + fork (i.e. "a fork used for pitching or throwing material, like hay"). The figurative sense (noun sense 4) is an allusion to a crowd of farmers wielding their farm tools as weapons.
Words formed from pitchfork
Questions about pitchfork
- What does pitchfork mean?
- Pitchfork means 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).
- What is pitchfork in Hindi?
- Pitchfork in Hindi is पिचफोर्क, पिचफॉर्क. See Pitchfork meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pitchfork?
- Pitchfork can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce pitchfork?
- Pitchfork is pronounced /ˈpɪt͡ʃˌfɔɹk/.
- What is the plural of pitchfork?
- The plural of pitchfork is pitchforks.
Words near pitchfork in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pitchfork (page history and authors); Pitchfork (page history and authors); pitchfork (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pitchfork (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pitchfork (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pitchfork (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pitchfork.wav.
Cite this entry: “pitchfork.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pitchfork. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.