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Definition of Pepper - 9 dictionary results

pep⋅per

  [pep-er]
Use Pepper in a Sentence
–noun
1. a pungent condiment obtained from various plants of the genus Piper, esp. from the dried berries, used whole or ground, of the tropical climbing shrub P. nigrum.
2. any plant of the genus Piper. Compare pepper family.
3. any of several plants of the genus Capsicum, esp. C. annuum, cultivated in many varieties, or C. frutescens.
4. the usually green or red fruit of any of these plants, ranging from mild to very pungent in flavor.
5. the pungent seeds of several varieties of C. annuum or C. frutescens, used ground or whole as a condiment.
6. Baseball. pepper game.
–verb (used with object)
7. to season with or as if with pepper.
8. to sprinkle or cover, as if with pepper; dot.
9. to sprinkle like pepper.
10. to hit with rapidly repeated short jabs.
11. to pelt with or as if with shot or missiles: They peppered the speaker with hard questions.
12. to discharge (shot or missiles) at something.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME peper, piper, OE pipor (> ON pipari, piparr) < L piper < Gk péperi; cf. OFris piper, D peper, OHG pfeffar (G Pfeffer); these and OE pipor perh. < a common WGmc borrowing < L

Related forms:
pep⋅per⋅er, noun
pep⋅per⋅ish, adjective
pep⋅per⋅ish⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pep·per   (pěp'ər)   
n.  
  1. Black pepper.
  2. Any of several plants of the genus Piper, as cubeb, betel, and kava.
    1. Any of several tropical American, cultivated forms of Capsicum frutescens or C. annuum, having podlike, many-seeded, variously colored berries.
    2. The podlike fruit of any of these plants, varying in size, shape, and degree of pungency, with the milder types including the bell pepper and pimiento, and the more pungent types including the cherry pepper.
  4. Any of various condiments made from the more pungent varieties of Capsicum frutescens, such as cayenne pepper, tabasco pepper, and chili. Also called hot pepper.
  5. Baseball A warm-up exercise in which players standing a short distance from a batter field the ball and toss it to the batter, who hits each toss back to the fielders. Also called pepper game.
tr.v.   pep·pered, pep·per·ing, pep·pers
  1. To season or sprinkle with pepper.
  2. To sprinkle liberally; dot.
  3. To shower with or as if with small missiles. See Synonyms at barrage2.
  4. To make (a speech, for example) lively and vivid with wit or invective.

[Middle English peper, from Old English pipor, from Latin piper, from Greek peperi, of Indic origin; akin to Prakrit pipparī, from Sanskrit pippalī, from pippalam, pipal.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Pepper

Pep"per\, n. [OE. peper, AS. pipor, L. piper, fr. Gr. ?, ?, akin to Skr. pippala, pippali.]

1. A well-known, pungently aromatic condiment, the dried berry, either whole or powdered, of the Piper nigrum.

Note: Common, or black, pepper is made from the whole berry, dried just before maturity; white pepper is made from the ripe berry after the outer skin has been removed by maceration and friction. It has less of the peculiar properties of the plant than the black pepper. Pepper is used in medicine as a carminative stimulant.

2. (Bot.) The plant which yields pepper, an East Indian woody climber (Piper nigrum), with ovate leaves and apetalous flowers in spikes opposite the leaves. The berries are red when ripe. Also, by extension, any one of the several hundred species of the genus Piper, widely dispersed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the earth.

3. Any plant of the genus Capsicum, and its fruit; red pepper; as, the bell pepper.

Note: The term pepper has been extended to various other fruits and plants, more or less closely resembling the true pepper, esp. to the common varieties of Capsicum. See Capsicum, and the Phrases, below.

African pepper, the Guinea pepper. See under Guinea.

Cayenne pepper. See under Cayenne.

Chinese pepper, the spicy berries of the Xanthoxylum piperitum, a species of prickly ash found in China and Japan.

Guinea pepper. See under Guinea, and Capsicum.

Jamaica pepper. See Allspice.

Long pepper. (a) The spike of berries of Piper longum, an East Indian shrub. (b) The root of Piper, or Macropiper, methysticum. See Kava.

Malaguetta, or Meleguetta, pepper, the aromatic seeds of the Amomum Melegueta, an African plant of the Ginger family. They are sometimes used to flavor beer, etc., under the name of grains of Paradise.

Red pepper. See Capsicum.

Sweet pepper bush (Bot.), an American shrub (Clethra alnifolia), with racemes of fragrant white flowers; -- called also white alder.

Pepper box or caster, a small box or bottle, with a perforated lid, used for sprinkling ground pepper on food, etc.

Pepper corn. See in the Vocabulary.

Pepper elder (Bot.), a West Indian name of several plants of the Pepper family, species of Piper and Peperomia.

Pepper moth (Zo["o]l.), a European moth (Biston betularia) having white wings covered with small black specks.

Pepper pot, a mucilaginous soup or stew of vegetables and cassareep, much esteemed in the West Indies.

Pepper root. (Bot.). See Coralwort.

pepper sauce, a condiment for the table, made of small red peppers steeped in vinegar.

Pepper tree (Bot.), an aromatic tree (Drimys axillaris) of the Magnolia family, common in New Zealand. See Peruvian mastic tree, under Mastic.

Pepper

Pep"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Peppered; p. pr. & vb. n. Peppering.]

1. To sprinkle or season with pepper.

2. Figuratively: To shower shot or other missiles, or blows, upon; to pelt; to fill with shot, or cover with bruises or wounds. "I have peppered two of them." "I am peppered, I warrant, for this world." --Shak.

Pepper

Pep"per\, v. i. To fire numerous shots (at).
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Pepper
Spanish: pimienta,
German: der Pfeffer,
Japanese: こしょう
More Translations »

pepper 
O.E. pipor, from an early W.Gmc. borrowing of L. piper, from Gk. piperi, probably (via Persian) from Middle Indic pippari, from Skt. pippali "long pepper." The L. word is the source of Ger. Pfeffer, It. pepe, Fr. poivre, O.C.S. pipru, Lith. pipiras, O.Ir. piobhar, Welsh pybyr, etc. Application to fruits of the capsicum family (unrelated, originally native of tropical America) is 16c. The verb meaning "to sprinkle as with pepper" is from 1612. Peppermint is first attested 1696.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: pep·per
Pronunciation: 'pep-&r
Function: noun
1 : either of two pungent products from the fruit of an East Indian plant thatare used as a condiment, carminative, or stimulant: a : BLACK PEPPER b : WHITE PEPPER
2 : a woody vine of the genus Piper (P. nigrum) with ovate leaves and spicateflowers that is widely cultivated in the tropics for its red berries from which black pepper and white pepper are prepared
3 : CAPSICUM 2
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Pepper language
A variant of POP-11 by Chris Dollin .
(2002-05-26)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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pepper

(Capsicum), any of a great number of plants of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, notably Capsicum annuum, C. frutescens, and C. boccatum, extensively cultivated throughout tropical Asia and equatorial America for their edible, pungent fruits. Peppers, which have been found in prehistoric remains in Peru, were widely grown in Central and South America in pre-Columbian times. Pepper seeds were carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread rapidly throughout Europe.

Learn more about pepper with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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