pep

A speech given to encourage others. The team was looking lethargic, but the coach gave them a pep talk at half time, and they came out with a lot of energy. I gave Michelle a pep talk because I knew she was nervous about starting her new job.

to make someone or something more vigorous. Nancy needs to take some vitamins to pep her up. The coffee break pepped up the tired workers. Better food might pep your cat up.

to make someone or something more active or exciting With her energy and enthusiasm, she may be able to pep up the company's sales. She was always busy trying either to pep someone up or calm someone down.

a speech that you give to people in order to encourage them to work harder or win a competition I thought I'd give the lads a pep talk before the match.

Invigorate someone or cheer someone up, as in This drink will pep you up, or The good news about his recovery pepped us up. [1920s] Both the verb pep and the noun pep, denoting vigor and energy since about 1910, are abbreviations for pepper, a spice with a pungent, biting quality. They also have given rise to pep rally, a meeting to inspire enthusiasm [c. 1940], and pep talk, a speech meant to instill enthusiasm or bolster morale [1920s].