Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Something, such as a yeast, bacterium, mold, or enzyme, that causes fermentation.
  • noun Fermentation.
  • noun A state of agitation or of turbulent change or development.
  • noun An agent that precipitates or is capable of precipitating such a state; a catalyst.
  • intransitive verb To produce by or as if by fermentation.
  • intransitive verb To cause to undergo fermentation.
  • intransitive verb To make turbulent; excite or agitate.
  • intransitive verb To undergo fermentation.
  • intransitive verb To be in an excited or agitated state; seethe.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A gentle boiling, or the internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid.
  • noun That which is capable of causing fermentation.
  • noun Figuratively, commotion; heat; tumult; agitation: as, to put the passions in a ferment.
  • To cause to boil gently; cause ebullition in.
  • To cause fermentation in.
  • Figuratively, to set in agitation; excite; arouse.
  • To undergo fermentation.
  • Figuratively, to be in agitation; be excited, as by violent emotions or passions, or great problems.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To undergo fermentation; to be in motion, or to be excited into sensible internal motion, as the constituent particles of an animal or vegetable fluid; to work; to effervesce.
  • intransitive verb To be agitated or excited by violent emotions.
  • transitive verb To cause ferment or fermentation in; to set in motion; to excite internal emotion in; to heat.
  • noun That which causes fermentation, as yeast, barm, or fermenting beer.
  • noun Intestine motion; heat; tumult; agitation.
  • noun rare A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.
  • noun volatile oils produced by the fermentation of plants, and not originally contained in them. These were the quintessences of the alchemists.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
  • verb To stir up, agitate, cause unrest.
  • noun Something, such as a yeast that causes fermentation.
  • noun A state of agitation or of turbulent change.
  • noun A catalyst.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a substance capable of bringing about fermentation
  • noun a state of agitation or turbulent change or development
  • verb be in an agitated or excited state
  • verb cause to undergo fermentation
  • verb work up into agitation or excitement
  • noun a process in which an agent causes an organic substance to break down into simpler substances; especially, the anaerobic breakdown of sugar into alcohol
  • verb go sour or spoil

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fermentum; see bhreu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin fermentare ("to leaven, ferment"), from fermentum ("substance causing fermentation"), from fervere ("to boil, seethe"). Confer French ferment, see also fervent.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word ferment.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.