Search the Dictionary

e sharp pain, or smarting, to; to hurt or injure, in a literal or a figurative sense; as, pepper bites the mouth. "Frosts do bite the meads." Shak.

a) which affects the ear of cereals, filling the grains with a fetid dust; -- also called pepperbrand.

if by action of fire or heat; to affect as fire or heat does; as, to burn the mouth with pepper. This tyrant fever burns me up. Shak. This dry sorrow burns up all my tears. Dryden. When the cold north wind bloweth, . . . it devoureth the mountains, and burneth the wilderness, and consumeth the Ecclus. xliii. 20, 21.…

which have an exceedingly pungent, biting taste, and when ground form the red of Cayenne pepper of commerce.

ved of its poisonous qualities, concentrated by boiling, and flavored with aromatics. See Pepper pot.

Cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper. (a) (Bot.) A species of capsicum (C. frutescens) with small and intensely pungent fruit. (b) A very pungent spice made by drying and grinding the fruits or seeds of several species of the genus Capsicum, esp. C. annuum and C. Frutescens; -- Called also red pepper. It is used chiefly as a…

ries, the poisonous leaves of which have a flavor like that of bitter almonds. -- Cherry pepper (Bot.), a species of Capsicum (C. cerasiforme), with small, scarlet, intensely piquant cherry-shaped fruit. -- Cherry pit. (a) A child's play, in which cherries are thrown into a hole. Shak. (b) A cherry stone. -- Cherry…

A kind of red pepper. See Capsicum [Written also chilli and chile.]

Peppergrass. Johnson.

to give relish to food, and to gratify the taste; a pungment and appetizing substance, as pepper or mustard; seasoning. As for radish and the like, they are for condiments, and not for nourishment. Bacon.

uciferous herb of certain species of Dentaria; -- called also toothwort, tooth violet, or pepper root.

Any invigorating and stimulating preparation; as, a peppermint cordial.

A bottle or vessel; esp., aviai or small glass bottle for holding vinegar, oil, pepper, or the like, for the table; a caster. Swift.

The small, spicy berry of a species of pepper (Piper Cubeba; in med., Cubeba officinalis), native in Java and Borneo, but now cultivated in various tropical countries. The dried unripe fruit is much used in medicine as a stimulant and purgative.

A kind of sauce much used in India, containing garlic, pepper, ginger, and other strong spices.

af corn. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. If the season be unkindly and intemperate, they [peppers] will catch a blast; and then the seeds will be deaf, void, light, and naught. Holland. Deaf and dumb, without the sense of hearing or the faculty of speech. See Deaf-mute.

A dish, as a bone with the meat, broiled and excessively peppered; a grill with Cayenne pepper. Men and women busy in baking, broiling, roasting oysters, and preparing devils on the gridiron. Sir W. Scott.

A kind of peppergrass (Lepidium latifolium).

White mixed with black, as the color of pepper and salt, or of ashes, or of hair whitened by age; sometimes, a dark mixed color; as, the soft gray eye of a dove. These gray and dun colors may be also produced by mixing whites and blacks. Sir I. Newton.

potted like the feathers of the Guinea hen. -- Guinea peach. See under Peach. -- Guinea pepper (Bot.), the pods of the Xylopia aromatica, a tree of the order Anonaceæ, found in tropical West Africa. They are also sold under the name of Piper Æthiopicum. --Guinea pig.