Here's a place where I think Dickens uses a word incorrectly. "Pitch" I have heard used only to indicate the
frequency of vibrations of sound. Orchestras used to tune to a pitch of a pitch pipe, or a tuning fork, etc.

"'Gentlemen,' said the mayor, at as loud a pitch as he could
possibly force his voice to--'gentlemen. Brother electors of the
borough of Eatanswill. We are met here to-day for the purpose
of choosing a representative in the room of our late..."

I think Def. 7 under the noun entry works pretty well:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/35/P0333500.html

Dear Faldage: there are indeed many uses of pitch.
But "loud" and "pitch" just don't fit together. Loud is volume, pitch is frequency, when you are talking about sound, and Dickens was talking about a voice.

OED has the definition: Comparative height or intensity of any quality or attribute; (italics mine)

Works for me.

Works for me.

Yeahbut® would you, do you ever use it that way? have you heard it that way recently?

In sentences like "He pitched his voice so that it could be heard outside the room" I always assumed it meant adjusted the volume.

Bingley

that's a good thought, Bingley, though I always assumed it meant one used a higher pitch to carry better. very interesting.

And I'll be switched if the hay ain't pitched. Open the window, I want to pitch out my chest.
But I still can't change pitch on stereo with the volume control.

In cricket alone, there are three (count them, 3) distinct definitions.

(Or is that wicket?)

Yup, 3

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/crickgl.htm#ltrp

Scroll down to pitch.

But not loud.

I'm just speaking to the versatility of the word, Dr Bill.

Turns out, of the three definitions for wicket in cricket, one is a misuse and should be pitch.

wwh,

I understand the point you're making. And you're absolutely correct with your example of not being able to affect pitch by increasing volume.

However, I think you're hyper-limiting the flexibility of our language with the 'loud pitch' example. A pitch can be loud or soft--and it can be performed in many different ways. All same pitches are not created equal as when a violinist plays a "D" on an open string v. playing that same "D" fingered elsewhere on the fingerboard. Professional violinists will argue over the relative merits of those identical "D's" (at least in terms of frequency) played open v. fingered till the end of time.

Now about Dickens and that loud pitch. Because a pitch can be performed at such a wide range of dynamic levels, Dickens is simply stating that the pitch of this particular character's voice had been pushed into its loudest level.

If Dickens had written that the character had used his voice at its highest pitch, we would imagine the sound of the character's voice sent to highest extremes, but we wouldn't have known whether the character's voice had been soft, medium or loud. But with the example you provide we simply are told that the pitch--whatever it was--was in its loudest dynamic range. "'Gentlemen,' said the mayor, at as loud a pitch as he could possibly force his voice to. The unknown quality is the pitch of the mayor's voice, but, whatever that pitch was--were he a monotonic mayor--it was his loudest in terms of dynamic level. I would suggest to Dickens, were he around, that the voice, although not usually singing, does have a wide range of pitches and that perhaps he could have written the phrase "'Gentlemen,' said the mayor, at as loud a range of pitches as he could possibly force his voice to..."

...but then that would have been rather wordy and cumbersome. Far be it from me to suggest to Dickens that he take on a few extra words.

Comparative height or intensity of any quality or attribute

Absolutely!

They worked at a great pitch--and at a loud one, too!

Loud is measured in decibels. Pitch is measured in cycles per second. Too bad Bean isn't hear to teach you some fundamental physics.

Once more: can you change pitch of stereo with volume control?

INTENSITY OF ANY QUALITY


BTW, if you blow harder on a recorder the frequency of the note produced will increase. Recorder virtuosa Michala Petri is known for the fingering technique she uses to conteract this and has increased the dynamic range of the recorder significantly.

Dear Faldage: you are simply being wrong at the top of your voice.

>INTENSITY OF ANY QUALITY

Scusami, Fong, but when did you start spelling your name Knut?

I don't understand why everybody is shouting around here!!! The intensity of these arguments is increasing--and the pitch of the arguments is increasing, too, come to think of it. I think this is becoming a high-pitched, loud argument.

Now, wwh, you do not have to say anything about those volume controls. We understand.

And I also don't think you have to throw in arguments about studying physics anymore either because no one is arguing against your volume control argument. If anything, we are agreeing with that point.

And, Faldage, you don't have to go shouting over and over about intensity. We understand your meaning of pitch and that is as clear as wwh's argument about volume control and pitch remaining as stable as it can.

The recorder note was quite true. I've played a great deal of recorder--the recorder is a remarkable instrument in that only very slight changes in air flow and air pressure will, indeed, cause the pitch to sharpen or go flat, depending upon how much or less pressure is applied.

The same goes for the flute, actually, which I played for almost a decade. If I blew hard enough, the pitch would sharpen. I suppose the same might be true of other wind instruments.

String instruments? Hmmmmmm. I just don't know. If one applies more speed to the bow--uses a great deal of bow plus much speed--the volume will increase, but I don't think the pitch will sharpen. I think the pitch in strings is pretty much determined by the finger position. Most modern violinists use vibrato to vary pitch, make the pitch warmer, more vibrant (at least so the theory goes), but vibrato produces several pitches rather than the one that would result from keeping the finger on the string perfectly still--as if human beings can do anything perfectly. But again: it's the speed of the bow and the pressure to the string that cause increase/decrease in volume.

However, this all began with the passage from Dickens. And I think the little dickens was ok in stating that this speaker had taken his pitch to the loudest volume simply because any pitch could be taken--theoretically at least--to its loudest volume.

In reply to:

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Far be it from me to suggest to Dickens that he take on a few extra words.

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I'm sure he would have been extremely grateful for them. He was always working to deadlines, trying to fill each week's or month's instalment.

In reply to:

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Loud is measured in decibels. Pitch is measured in cycles per second.

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When did they start using decibels to measure loudness? Before or after the 1830s, which, if my memory is correct, is when Dickens was writing The Pickwick Papers?

Bingley

wrong at the top of [my] voice

No, I'm simply pointing out that there is another definition of pitch besides the one that involves frequency and it is the one that Dickens was using. Your argument is the equivalent of saying that someone who lives in a city isn't living in a country because one of the definitions of country distinguishes it from the city.

And, Faldage, yours is the most probable explanation of all--and probably correct.