pepper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Black pepper.
2. n. Any of several plants of the genus Piper, as cubeb, betel, and kava.
3. n. Any of several tropical American, cultivated forms of Capsicum frutescens or C. annuum, having podlike, many-seeded, variously colored berries.
4. n. 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.
5. n. 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.
6. n. 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.
7. v. To season or sprinkle with pepper.
8. v. To sprinkle liberally; dot.
9. v. To shower with or as if with small missiles. See Synonyms at barrage².
10. v. To make (a speech, for example) lively and vivid with wit or invective.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The product of plants of the genus Piper, chiefly of P. nigrum, consisting of the berries, which afford an aromatic and pungent condiment. The spikes are gathered as the berries begin to turn red; these berries are rubbed off and dried, when they form the ordinary black pepper. White pepper consists of the seeds of the same fruit allowed to ripen and deprived of their pulp; or it is sometimes prepared by removing or blanching the outer layer of the dry black pepper. It is a milder article, finding its largest market in China. Long pepper is the product of Piper longum and P. Chaba. (See Chavica.) It is less powerful, but a considerable article of commerce. Pepper is stimulant of digestion, in large doses capable of producing inflammation. It yields to aqueous distillation a thin and colorless volatile oil. Ground pepper is extensively adulterated. Pepper was known and prized by the ancients, and was sometimes made a medium of exchange.
2. n. Any plant of the genus Piper; especially, one that produces the pepper of commerce (see def. 1). This is a stout shrub, trailing and rooting at the joints or climbing on trees; the stems grow to a length of 20 feet, bearing large ovate leaves, and flowers and berries in spikes. It is a native of forests in parts of India, and is everywhere cultivated in hot, damp, tropical regions.
3. n. A plant of the genus Capsicum, or one of its pods. These pods are the source of Cayenne pepper, and form the green and red peppers used in sauces, etc.
4. n. A bitter, biting drink [peppermint, Morris].
5. n. A pepper-caster: as, a pair of silver-mounted peppers.
6. n. In the West Indies, also, other plants of the genus Xylopia.
7. n. See Capsicum.
8. n. Same as chilli.
9. n. Same as wall-pepper.
10. To sprinkle with pepper; make pungent: as, mutton-chops well peppered.—2. To pelt with shot or other missiles; hit with what pains or annoys; also, to attack with bitter or pungent words.
11. To cover with small sores.
12. To pelt thoroughly; give a quietus to; do for.
13. n. A tall shrub of the pepper family, Piper Novæ-Hollandiæ, found in dense forests where it climbs to the tops of the tallest trees. It is used in the treatment of catarrhal affections. Called also native pepper-vine.

Wiktionary

1. n. A plant of the family Piperaceae.
2. n. uncountable A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe red berries of this plant.
3. n. A fruit of the capsicum: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in very spicy and mild varieties.
4. n. 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
5. v. transitive To add pepper to.
6. v. transitive To strike with something made up of small particles.
7. v. transitive To be covered with lots of (something made up of small things).
8. v. transitive To add (something) at frequent intervals.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A well-known, pungently aromatic condiment, the dried berry, either whole or powdered, of the Piper nigrum.
2. n. (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. n. Any plant of the genus Capsicum (of the Solanaceae family, which are unrelated to Piper), and its fruit; red pepper; chili pepper. These contain varying levels of the substance capsaicin (C18H27O3N), which gives the peppers their hot taste. The habanero is about 25-50 times hotter than the jalapeno according to a scale developed by Wilbur Scoville in 1912. See also Capsicum and http://www.chili-pepper-plants.com/.
4. v. To sprinkle or season with pepper.
5. v. Figuratively: To shower shot or other missiles, or blows, upon; to pelt; to fill with shot, or cover with bruises or wounds.
6. v. To fire numerous shots (at).

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of various tropical plants of the genus Capsicum bearing peppers
2. v. add pepper to
3. n. sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus Capsicum
4. v. attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
5. n. pungent seasoning from the berry of the common pepper plant of East India; use whole or ground
6. n. climber having dark red berries (peppercorns) when fully ripe; southern India and Sri Lanka; naturalized in northern Burma and Assam