pitchfork

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.

(informal) Any fork used for farm labor, even a digging fork (but such usage is often considered ignorant by experienced farmers).

[in the plural] (figurative) An angry mob; the power or effects of such a mob.

(rare) A tuning fork.

To toss or carry with a pitchfork.

(figurative) To throw suddenly.