Definition: pepper
pepper
n 1: climber having dark red berries (peppercorns) when fully
ripe; southern India and Sri Lanka; naturalized in North
Burma and Assam [syn: common pepper, black pepper, white
pepper, Madagascar pepper, Piper nigrum]
2: any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing
peppers [syn: capsicum, capsicum pepper plant]
3: pungent seasoning from the berry of the common pepper plant
of East India; use whole or ground [syn: peppercorn]
4: sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus
Capsicum
v 1: add pepper to
2: attack with missiles or questions [syn: pelt]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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).
Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (2003-OCT-10)
Pepper <language> A variant of POP-11 by Chris Dollin <kers@hplb.hpl.hp.com>. (2002-05-26)
