pep|per

pep|per
pep|per «PEHP uhr», noun, verb.
–n.
1. a seasoning with a hot, spicy taste used for soups, meats, vegetables, and other foods. Pepper is made by grinding the berries of a shrub. Black pepper is made from whole berries; white pepper is made from husked berries. Pepper has been used from ancient times for flavoring and acts as a digestive stimulant and carminative.
2. the plant bearing berries from which pepper is made. It is a climbing shrub of the pepper family and is native to the East Indies. Pepper has alternate stalked leaves, with green spikes of hanging flowers, and small berries turning red when ripe.
3. a) a hollow, green, red, or yellow vegetable that is eaten raw, cooked, or pickled, or dried and ground and used as seasoning. Paprika is made from a variety of pepper. b) a low American herb or shrub bearing such a fruit, such as the sweet pepper, bird pepper, and chili. Peppers belong to the nightshade family.
4. a container for pepper: »

silver salts and peppers.

5. Figurative. pungent, biting or energetic quality: »

There was plenty of pepper left in the old man.

SYNONYM(S): vigor, energy, pungency.
–v.t.
1. to season with pepper; sprinkle with pepper.
2. Figurative. to sprinkle thickly; dot: »

His face is peppered with freckles.

3. to hit with, or as if with, small objects, sent thick and fast: »

We peppered the enemy's lines with our shot.Figurative. Members of council peppered him with questions about details of his plan (Maclean's).

4. to beat severely; trounce.
5. Figurative. to enliven: »

Pretty soon he was…peppering their restrained, unvarying arrangements with exuberant improvisations on his trumpet (New Yorker).

╂[Old English pipor < Latin piper < Greek píperi, variant of péperi.Compare Sanskripippalī the long pepper.]

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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  • pep|per-and-salt — «PEHP uhr uhn SLT», adjective. 1. black and white finely mixed: »pepper and salt hair. 2. woven of alternate threads of black and white cotton, wool, or other yarn, so as to have a grayish appearance at a slight distance: »a pepper and salt suit …   Useful english dictionary

  • pep|per|box — «PEHP uhr BOKS», noun. 1. a container with holes in the top for sprinkling ground pepper on food. 2. Informal, Figurative. a hot tempered person; pepperer …   Useful english dictionary

  • pep|per|corn — «PEHP uhr KRN», noun. 1. one of the dried berries or fruits that are ground up to make pepper. 2. a) such a berry or fruit paid as a nominal rent: »Manhattan s first art museum building…was a neoclassic, circular structure, a few steps from City… …   Useful english dictionary

  • pep|per|grass — «PEHP uhr GRAS, GRAHS», noun. a common weed of the mustard family, with a peppery taste, such as garden cress, used in salads …   Useful english dictionary

  • pep|per|idge — «PEHP uhr ihj», noun. = black gum. (Cf. ↑black gum) ╂[American English; origin unknown] …   Useful english dictionary

  • pep|per|i|ness — «PEHP uhr ee nihs», noun. peppery quality …   Useful english dictionary

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