pepper spray
an aerosol spray that temporarily irritates the eyes and mucous membranes, used to stun and incapacitate a person or animal: police use of pepper spray to control rioters.
Origin of pepper spray
1Words Nearby pepper spray
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pepper spray in a sentence
When the girl keeps refusing to swing her legs inside, one officer pulls out his pepper spray.
Rochester police handcuffed and pepper-sprayed a 9-year-old girl, body-cam footage shows | Jaclyn Peiser | February 1, 2021 | Washington PostAccording to the Justice Department report, Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted several waivers to Otay Mesa, including one that permits the use of chemical agents other than pepper spray.
Sacramento Report: Fees Are the New Front in the Delivery Driver War | Sara Libby | January 22, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoThe young man keeps trying to show him his video clip of the pepper spray.
Inside the Capitol Riot: What the Parler Videos Reveal | by Alec MacGillis | January 17, 2021 | ProPublicaVideo footage seemed to show him putting her in the way of pepper spray, for example.
A guide to being an ethical online investigator | Tanya Basu | January 14, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewAs the protests continued and grew, guards began responding with pepper spray, which can make the respiratory tract more susceptible to infection.
Although some groups, through the thick fog of tear gas, pepper spray and smoke that hung over the city, still lingered.
Frat Culture Clashes With Riot Police at Keene, N.H., Pumpkin Festival | Melanie Plenda | October 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHe was captivated by footage of her escape through the hazy entryway of the supermarket, which was obscured by pepper spray.
Westgate's Chilling Security Video Reveals Shopping Mall Bloodbath | Nina Strochlic | September 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe police responded with pepper spray—not tear gas or rubber bullets or tanks or curfews.
It's Not Just Teens Like Michael Brown—Even Small Black Children Are Suspect | Sally Kohn | August 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnd writing on the pavement reads: “You did not need to use pepper spray to make us weep, we are emotional people.”
Smiling Under a Cloud of Tear Gas: Elif Shafak on Istanbul’s Streets | Elif Shafak | June 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTOn the shutters of a cosmetics store someone has written, “pepper spray is good for the skin.”
Smiling Under a Cloud of Tear Gas: Elif Shafak on Istanbul’s Streets | Elif Shafak | June 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt was a little stainless-steel aerosol canister that looked for all the world like a pepper-spray self-defense unit.
Little Brother | Cory DoctorowThe cops were running for them, batons out, pepper-spray out.
Makers | Cory DoctorowHe turned it and let the door crash open as two cops in riot-visors came through, pepper-spray at the fore.
Makers | Cory DoctorowThe pepper spray seemed to have cleared out his sinuses and given him back some of his hearing.
Makers | Cory Doctorow
British Dictionary definitions for pepper spray
a defence spray agent derived from hot cayenne peppers, which causes temporary blindness and breathing difficulty, sometimes used to control riots
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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