pepper-upper

[ pep-er-uhp-er ]

/ ˈpɛp ərˈʌp ər /

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noun Informal.

something, as a food, beverage, or pill, that provides a quick but temporary period of energy and alertness.

something added to food to relieve blandness.

an experience that increases enthusiasm or zeal, as a pep talk.

QUIZ

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Question 1 of 9

Which of the following nouns has an irregular plural form?

Origin of pepper-upper

1935–40; pep up + -er¹, suffixed pleonastically to both v. and particle

Whisk in the half and half and season to taste with salt and pepper.
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Rub the loin with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
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Kanye refuses to stomach any rejection, no matter how upper crust.
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If only Sulzberger had managed to keep a zipped upper lip while leaving the dirty work to anonymous underlings.
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White, upper-middle-class, Ivy-League educated white men, however Great they are, are falling out of power.
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“Perhaps you do not speak my language,” she said in Urdu, the tongue most frequently heard in Upper India.
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On the upper part of the stem the whorls are very close together, but they are more widely separated at the lower portion.
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It is to be remembered, however, that a few of these bacteria may reach the sputum from the upper air-passages.
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The upper part of the stem is usually unbranched, but whorls of branches occur towards the base.
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One whist table only is at work; General Pepper and three old hands of the same kidney are hard at it.
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