Ginger

[jin-jer] /ˈdʒɪn dʒər/

noun
1.
a reedlike plant, Zingiber officinale, native to the East Indies but now cultivated in most tropical countries, having a pungent, spicy rhizome used in cookery and medicine.
Compare .
2.
any of various related or similar plants.
3.
the rhizome of the ginger plant, ground, chopped, etc. and used as a flavoring.
4.
Informal. piquancy; animation:
plenty of ginger in their performance of the dance.
5.
a yellowish or reddish brown.
verb (used with object)
6.
to treat or flavor with ginger.
7.
Informal. to impart piquancy or spirit to; enliven (usually followed by up):
to ginger up a talk with a few jokes.
adjective
8.
flavored or made with ginger.
[jin-jer] /ˈdʒɪn dʒər/
noun
1.
a female given name, form of or .
/ˈdʒɪndʒə/
noun
1.
any of several zingiberaceous plants of the genus Zingiber, esp Z. officinale of the East Indies, cultivated throughout the tropics for its spicy hot-tasting underground stem See also galangal Compare wild ginger
2.
the underground stem of this plant, which is used fresh or powdered as a flavouring or crystallized as a sweetmeat
3.
any of certain related plants
4.

5.
(informal) liveliness; vigour
6.
(informal) (ˈɡɪŋə). a person with ginger hair
verb
7.
(transitive) to add the spice ginger to (a dish)
n.

mid-14c., from Old English gingifer, from Medieval Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Greek zingiberis, from Prakrit (Middle Indic) singabera, from Sanskrit srngaveram, from srngam “horn” + vera- “body,” so called from the shape of its root. But this may be Sanskrit folk etymology, and the word may be from an ancient Dravidian name that also produced the Malayalam name for the spice, inchi-ver, from inchi “root.” Cf. gin (v.). The word apparently was readopted in Middle English from Old French gingibre (Modern French gingembre). Meaning “spirit, spunk, temper” is from 1843, American English. Ginger-ale recorded by 1822; ginger-snap as a type of cookie is from 1855, American English.

noun

Energy; pep; pizzazz: the effervescent quality that used to be called ”ginger”

[1843+; fr the practice of putting ginger under a horse’s tail to increase its mettle and showiness, noted by 1785]

A simple functional language from the University of Warwick with parallel constructs.
(1994-11-02)