gingers

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of ginger.

   The botanical garden grows dozens of gingers, from edible kinds to showy ornamentals.

   Tropical gingers thrive in warm, humid climates.

   Note

   Counting turns the spice into plants. In the kitchen, ginger is often a mass noun (a pinch of ginger), so the plural tends to name kinds instead: species of the family Zingiberaceae, especially the genus Zingiber. Used of people with red hair, the plural is colloquial and often derogatory, so handle it with care. The 'liveliness' meaning is uncountable and has no plural at all.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular present of ginger.

   The cook gingers the marinade to give it a sharp, warming kick.

   Whenever the meeting starts to drag, she gingers it up with a joke and a fresh question.

   Note

   The -s form for he, she, it or a singular subject serves every meaning of the verb. A cook gingers a sauce, a joke gingers up a flat evening, and in Nigerian English a coach's pep talk gingers a team. In the 'enliven' meaning, up can follow the verb or the object (gingers up the party, gingers it up). The same spelling is also the noun plural, and the sentence around it shows which one is meant.

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