I. pep ‧ per 1 S3 /ˈpepə $ -ər/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: pipor , from Latin piper , from Greek peperi ]
1 . [uncountable] a powder that is used to add a hot taste to food:
salt and pepper
⇨ ↑ black pepper , ↑ white pepper
2 .
[countable] a hollow red, green, or yellow vegetable, eaten either raw or cooked with other food SYN bell pepper American English ⇨ ↑ sweet pepper , ↑ cayenne pepper , ↑ red pepper
II. pepper 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
1 . [usually passive] if something is peppered with things, it has a lot of those things in it or on it
be peppered with something
a speech peppered with amusing stories
The surface of the moon is peppered with craters.
2 . if bullets pepper something, they hit it several times:
Machine gun fire peppered the front of the building.
3 . pepper somebody with questions American English to ask someone a lot of questions, one after the other:
Reporters peppered him with questions.
4 . to add pepper to food:
Pepper the steak well.
peppered salami