A group of fresh jalapeno peppers.
- Pepper is a smooth-skinned, soft-stemmed fruit, or a spicy seasoning made from grinding this fruit after it's dried.
- An example of a pepper is a jalapeño.
- An example of pepper is the black speckled seasoning in a shaker on the table next to the salt.
- Pepper is defined as to sprinkle, or to flavor with the ground peppers.
- An example of pepper is a painter splattering tiny dots of paint on a canvas.
- An example of pepper is shaking chili flakes on a pizza.
- a pungent condiment obtained from the small, dried fruits of an Indian vine (Piper nigrum) of the pepper family
- this smooth, soft-stemmed vine
- any of various aromatic or pungent plants of several families, as the myrtle or ginger family, used in flavoring foods
- the fruit of the capsicum; chili pepper, green pepper, red pepper, etc.
- ⌂ Baseball a warm-up or practice session in which the ball is repeatedly thrown to a batter close by, who bunts it back to be fieldedin full pepper game
Origin of pepperMiddle English peper ; from Old English pipor ; from West Germanic borrowing ; from Classical Latin piper ; from Classical Greek peperi, via Persian ; from Sanskrit pippali, peppercorn
- to sprinkle or flavor with ground pepper
- to sprinkle freely or thickly
- to shower or pelt with many small objects: a roof peppered with hailstones
- to beat or hit with short, quick jabs
- a. A perennial climbing vine (Piper nigrum) native to India, widely cultivated for its long slender spikes of small fruit.b. A pungent black or white spice produced from the dried fruit of this plant, used as a condiment.
- Any of several other plants of the genus Piper, such as cubeb, betel, and kava.
- a. Any of several tropical American, cultivated varieties of capsicum, having podlike, many-seeded, fruit.b. The podlike fruit of any of these plants, varying in size, shape, color, and degree of pungency, with the milder types including the bell pepper and pimiento, and the more pungent types including the habanero.
- Any of various condiments made from the more pungent varieties of capsicum, such as cayenne pepper, tabasco pepper, and chili. Also called hot pepper.
- Any of various other plants producing pungent fruits, such as the Szechuan pepper.
- 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.
transitive verbpep·pered, pep·per·ing, pep·pers
- To season or sprinkle with pepper.
- a. To sprinkle liberally; scatter: peppered the confetti over the street.b. To strew something over: “Large splinters and chunks of timber peppered the ground” (John Guy).
- To strike with small missiles or gunfire. See Synonyms at barrage2.
- To beset repeatedly, as with questions or requests.
- To distribute certain features, such as witty remarks or quotations, throughout (a discourse).
Origin of pepperMiddle English peper, from Old English pipor, from Latin piper, from Greek peperi, of Indic origin; akin to Prakrit pippar&imacron;, from Sanskrit pippal&imacron;, from pippalam, pipal.
(countable and uncountable, plural peppers)
- A plant of the family Piperaceae.
- (uncountable) A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe red berries of this plant.
- A fruit of the capsicum: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in very spicy and mild varieties.
- (baseball) A game used by baseball players to warm up where fielders standing close to a batter rapidly return the batted ball to be hit again
- Some ballparks have signs saying "No pepper games".
(third-person singular simple present peppers, present participle peppering, simple past and past participle peppered)
- To add pepper to.
- To strike with something made up of small particles.
- To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).
- After the hailstorm, the beach was peppered with holes.
- To add (something) at frequent intervals.
- He liked to pepper his conversation with long words.