pepper

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   add pepper to

   pepper the soup

2. 2
   noun

   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".

3. 3
   noun

   A beating; a thrashing.

   He means to snatch the laurels from his brow, / At all his boasted pluck and prowess smile, / And give him pepper in superior style.

4. 4
   noun

   A shotgun.

   Chew beef like breakfast (Yum) Two shanks, get 'round in seconds (Two) Be feeding my area, peppers

5. 5
   verb

   To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).

   After the hailstorm, the beach was peppered with holes.

6. 6
   verb

   To add (something) at frequent intervals.

   He liked to pepper long words throughout his conversation.

7. 7
   verb

   To beat or thrash.

   I am pepperd for this world, I am sped yfaith, he hath made wormes meate of me

8. 8
   noun

   sweet and hot varieties of fruits of plants of the genus Capsicum

Etymology

From Middle English peper, piper, from Old English piper, from Proto-West Germanic *pipar, from Latin piper, from an Indo-Aryan source; compare Sanskrit पिप्पलि (pippali, “long pepper”). The name was given to the capsicum fruit because of its unusual spicy taste, not unlike the Old World spice. Cognate with Scots pepar, Saterland Frisian Pieper, West Frisian piper, Dutch peper, German Low German Peper, German Pfeffer, Danish peber, Swedish peppar, Icelandic pipar. Doublet of falafel and peepul.