peppercorn

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a dried berry of the pepper plant, used whole or ground as a spice

   Crush each peppercorn just before adding it to the sauce.

2. 2
   noun

   law: a very small or nominal payment used to make an agreement legally valid

   The charity leased the building for a peppercorn rent of one pound a year.

3. 3
   noun

   a tiny or insignificant amount

   There was not a peppercorn of evidence against her.

From Middle English pepercorn, inherited from Old English piporcorn, a compound of pepper + corn in the older sense 'small grain or seed.' Its minute size produced figurative and legal senses for a negligible or merely nominal amount.

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