Pitched Battle Meaning

(idiomatic, by extension) An intense, rancorous argument or confrontation.

Example: 1594, William Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, act 1, sc. 2:
  Have I not in a pitched battle heard
  Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?
1889, Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, ch. 13:
  At every post where we changed horses and drivers, we had a pitched battle with the driver for more money than we had been told was the regular rate.