I. ˈpe-pər noun
Etymology: Middle English peper, from Old English pipor, from Latin piper, from Greek peperi
Date: before 12th century
1.
a. : either of two pungent products from the fruit of an Indian plant ( Piper nigrum ) that are used chiefly as condiments:
(1) : black pepper
(2) : white pepper
b. : any of several products similar to pepper that are obtained from plants of the same genus
cubeb pepper
c. : any of various pungent condiments of plants unrelated to the pepper
Szechuan pepper
2. : any of a genus ( Piper of the family Piperaceae, the pepper family) of tropical mostly jointed climbing shrubs with aromatic leaves ; especially : a woody vine ( P. nigrum ) with spicate flowers that is widely cultivated in the tropics for its red berries from which black pepper and white pepper are prepared
3.
a. : capsicum 1a ; especially : a New World capsicum ( Capsicum annuum ) whose fruits are hot peppers or sweet peppers
b. : the hollow fruit of a pepper that is usually red or yellow when ripe
• pepper adjective
II. transitive verb
( pep·pered ; pep·per·ing ˈpe-p(ə-)riŋ)
Date: circa 1500
1. : to hit with or as if with rapid repeated blows
2.
a. : to sprinkle or season with pepper
b. : to shower with or as if with shot or other missiles
3. : to sprinkle or cover as if with pepper
pepper ed the report with statistics
a face pepper ed with freckles
• pep·per·er -pər-ər noun
III. noun
Etymology: probably from pep (II) + -er (II)
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