peppery

pepper +‎ -y

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛpəɹi/

peppery (comparative pepperier, superlative pepperiest)

1. Having the taste of pepper.
2. Having a fiery temperament.

   a peppery old Army major

   • 1868, Anthony Trollope, He Knew He Was Right XIV:

     At the Stag and Antlers old Mrs Crocket, than whom no old woman in the public line was ever more generous, more peppery, or more kind, kept two clean bed-rooms, and could cook a leg of Dartmoor mutton and make an apple pie against any woman in Devonshire.

   • 1884, Princess Ida, by Gilbert & Sullivan

     For I'm a peppery potentate, / Who's little inclined his claim to bate, / To fit the wit of a bit of a chit, / And that's the long and short of it!