PEPPER

I. noun Etymology: Middle English peper, from Old English pipor, from Latin piper, from Greek peperi Date: before 12th century 1. either of two pungent products from the fruit of an Indian plant ( Piper nigrum ) that are used chiefly as condiments:, black ~ , white ~ , any of several products similar to ~ that are obtained from plants of the same genus , any of various pungent condiments of plants unrelated to the ~ , any of a genus ( Piper of the family Piperaceae, the ~ family) of tropical mostly jointed climbing shrubs with aromatic leaves, 3. capsicum 1a, the hollow fruit of a ~ that is usually red or yellow when ripe, ~ adjective II. transitive verb (~ed; ~ing) Date: circa 1500 to hit with or as if with rapid repeated blows, 2. to sprinkle or season with ~, to shower with or as if with shot or other missiles, to sprinkle or cover as if with ~ , ~er noun III. noun Etymology: probably from 2pep + 2-er Date: 1943 a baseball practice or warm-up game in which usually several fielders toss the ball a short distance to a single batter who hits it back