pitch dark

pitch dark

Completely or extremely dark; having or allowing no or very little light. ("Pitch" is a viscous black resin produced from coal or wood tar.) The stars were covered by clouds, and there were no lights for miles, so it was pitch dark all around our campsite after we extinguished the fire. I hate going into the basement when it's pitch dark like that.
See also: dark, pitch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

pitch dark

very dark; as dark as pitch. I couldn't see anything outside because it was pitch dark. The room was pitch dark, and I couldn't find the light switch!
See also: dark, pitch
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • pitch black
  • shoot the lights
  • storm clouds
  • flash on someone
  • flash on something
  • 180
  • do a 180
  • do a one-eighty
  • turn 180 degrees
  • extend over
References in classic literature
The night was warm and cloudy and although it was not yet eight o'clock, the alleyway back of the Eagle office was pitch dark. A team of horses tied to a post somewhere in the darkness stamped on the hard- baked ground.
It was almost pitch dark now, and only the stars lit up the Glass Mountain.
As it was now pitch dark within their tiny aerie they lay down upon their blankets to try to gain, through sleep, a brief respite of forgetfulness.
Sir Nathaniel switched off the electric light, and when the room was pitch dark, he came to Adam, took him by the hand, and led him to a seat set in the southern window.
The men crept noiselessly within the pitch dark interior until they came to the sleeping form of one of the Dyak women.
It got to be pitch dark, at last, and the multitude groaned with horror to feel the cold uncanny night breezes fan through the place and see the stars come out and twinkle in the sky.
It was pitch dark, but Lawrence was following with the candle, and by its feeble light we saw that the bed had not been slept in, and that there was no sign of the room having been occupied.
Who could intercept us on such a night as this, pitch dark, when one does not see more than twenty yards before one?"
No one met him; the verandah was empty, and nearly pitch dark. He opened the door into the room, but it, too, was dark and empty.
Far and wide the sky was flaring with the red glare that leaped from rows of towering chimneys--for it was pitch dark when Jurgis arrived.
We, being men, took a dark lantern that was standing on Brittle's hob, and groped our way downstairs in the pitch dark,--as it might be so.'
The young Englishman's feet hunt almost to the surface of the water--closer than he knew, for all was pitch dark below as above him.
It was almost pitch dark now, and the snow grew deeper every moment.
It was pitch dark; here and there a white gate or a white stone in the wall guided them for a short space across the night; but for the most part it was at a foot pace, and almost groping, that they picked their way through that resonant blackness to their solemn and isolated destination.
It was pitch dark and very oppressive under his hood.