pitchfork

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pitchfork^¹

/ˈpɪt͡ʃˌfɔɹk/

Where it comes from

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.

noun 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.
Similar: dungfork, manure fork, graip
broadly, informal Any fork used for farm labor, even a digging fork (but such usage is often considered ignorant by experienced farmers).
figuratively, in plural, metonymically 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.
rare 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 […]

verb pitchforks · pitchforking · pitchforked

transitive To toss or carry with a pitchfork. The hay was soon pitchforked onto the wagon.
figuratively, transitive 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.
Similar: hurl, pitch

Pitchfork^²

proper noun Pitchforks

A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: fork, pronged, feet, tined, crotch, foot, forcque, military fork, fork truck, slave fork, toasting-fork, salad fork, forkload, forkful, fondue fork, foothook

Translations

Every language

noun farm tool with 2 or more tines

Español	horca, horquilla, horqueta, horcón, mielga
日本語	ピッチフォーク pitchifōku
中文	杈 chā, 叉 chā
Português	forcado, forquilha, garfo
Français	fourche
Deutsch	Heugabel, Mistgabel
Italiano	forcone, forca
Ελληνικά	δίκρανο díkrano, δικράνι dikráni, πιρούνα piroúna
Română	furcă
Русский	ви́лы víly
Tiếng Việt	chĩa
العربية	شَوْكَة šawka, مِذْرَاة miḏrāh

noun farm tool with 4 or more tines

Español	bieldo, bielgo, aventador, aviento, bielda, horca pajera

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MLA

"pitchfork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/pitchfork. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

pitchfork. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/pitchfork

Chicago

"pitchfork." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/pitchfork.

BibTeX

@misc{pitchfork_2026,
  title = {pitchfork},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pitchfork},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}