pitchstone

[Eng. pitch (1), s., and stone; Fr. pierre de poix; Ger. pechstein.] Petrol.: A vitreous rock of pitch-like luster and imperfect conchoidal fracture; brittle. Analyses (2) Strength, force, might. (3) Energy, cogency; concentration, closene *(4) Weight, moment, importance. "Enterprises of great pith and moment." Shakesp.: Hamlet, iii. 1. II. Bot .: A cellular and more or le spongy sub stance occupying the center of a stem or shoot, but not of a root; medulla.