pepper Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun climber having dark red berries (peppercorns) when fully ripe; southern India and Sri Lanka; naturalized in northern Burma and Assam
    common pepper; Piper nigrum; black pepper; Madagascar pepper; white pepper.
  2. noun any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing peppers
    capsicum; capsicum pepper plant.
  3. noun pungent seasoning from the berry of the common pepper plant of East India; use whole or ground
    peppercorn.
  4. noun sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus Capsicum
  5. verb add pepper to
    • pepper the soup
  6. verb attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
    pelt.
    • pelt the speaker with questions

WordNet

Pep"per noun
Etymology
OE. peper, AS. pipor, L. piper, fr. Gr. , , akin to Skr. pippala, pippali.
Definitions
  1. A well-known, pungently aromatic condiment, the dried berry, either whole or powdered, of the Piper nigrum. ✍ 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. ✍ 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.
Pep"per transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Peppered ; present participle & verbal noun Peppering
Definitions
  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.
Pep"per intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To fire numerous shots (at).

Webster 1913