pepper
a salt shaker and a pepper shaker
A vegetable that is usually green, red, or yellow, has a rounded shape, and is hollow with seeds in the middle
a salt shaker and a pepper shaker
Oxford Essential Dictionary
pepper
noun
1 (no plural) powder with a hot taste that you put on food:
salt and pepper
2 (plural peppers) a red, green or yellow vegetable that is almost empty inside
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
pepper
I. noun
I. pep‧per1 S3 /ˈpepə $ -ər/ 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
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
pepper
pep·per [pepper peppers peppered peppering] noun, verb [ˈpepə(r)] [ˈpepər]
noun
1. uncountable a powder made from dried berries (called peppercorns), used to give a hot flavour to food
• Season with salt and pepper
• freshly ground pepper
see also black pepper, cayenne, white pepper
2. (BrE) (also ˌsweet ˈpepper BrE, NAmE) (NAmE ˈbell pepper) countable, uncountable a hollow fruit, usually red, green or yellow, eaten as a vegetable either raw or cooked
Word Origin:
Old English piper, pipor, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch peper and German Pfeffer; via Latin from Greek peperi, from Sanskrit pippalī ‘berry, peppercorn’.
Example Bank:
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• He gave me a great recipe for stuffed peppers.
• He put some pepper on his steak.
• freshly ground black pepper
• peppers stuffed with meat and rice
Derived: pepper somebody with something ▪ pepper something with something
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition
pepper / ˈpep.ə r / / -ɚ / noun [ C ] (VEGETABLE)
pepper
B1 a vegetable that is usually green, red, or yellow, has a rounded shape, and is hollow with seeds in the middle:
a red/green pepper
Peppers are usually cooked with other vegetables or eaten raw in salads.
Red peppers are ideal for roasting in the oven.
pepper / ˈpep.ə r / / -ɚ / noun [ U ] (POWDER)
A2 a grey or white powder produced by crushing dry peppercorns, used to give a spicy, hot taste to food:
freshly ground black pepper
salt and pepper
© Cambridge University Press 2013
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
pepper
/pepə(r)/
(peppers, peppering, peppered)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Pepper is a hot-tasting spice which is used to flavour food.
Season with salt and pepper.
...freshly ground black pepper.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
A pepper, or in American English a bell pepper, is a hollow green, red, or yellow vegetable with seeds inside it.
N-COUNT
3.
If something is peppered with small objects, a lot of those objects hit it.
He was wounded in both legs and severely peppered with shrapnel...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed with n
4.
If something is peppered with things, it has a lot of those things in it or on it.
While her English was correct, it was peppered with French phrases...
Yachts peppered the tranquil waters of Botafogo Bay.
VERB: be V-ed with n, V n
Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
1pep·per /ˈpɛpɚ/ noun, pl -pers
1 [noncount] : a food seasoning that is made by grinding the dried berries of an Indian plant along with their hard, black covers : black pepper
• Please pass the salt and pepper.
• freshly ground pepper
- see also cayenne pepper, salt-and-pepper, white pepper
2 [count] : a hollow vegetable that is usually red, green, or yellow and that is eaten raw or cooked
• The steak was served with peppers and onions.
• Be careful handling hot peppers.
