▪ I. ferment
var. of ferrament, Obs.
▪ II. ferment, n.
(ˈfɜːmənt)
Also 6 fermente, 7 firment.
[a. Fr. ferment, ad. L. fermentum, f. root of ferv-ēre to boil.]
1. a. orig. Leaven or yeast. Hence gen. an agent which causes fermentation (see fermentation 1).
Modern chemists recognize two classes of ferments: organized ferments, which are living vegetable organisms, as the yeast plant and other microscopic fungi; and unorganized ferments or chemical ferments, which are certain compounds of organic origin, as diastase, pepsin, etc. (now replaced in scientific use by enzyme).
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 524 Use this ferment For musty brede. 1683 Robinson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 138 The venom..may chiefly consist in a subtle acid ferment. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 59 He taught the nations the use of ferment. 1807 Med. Jrnl. XVII. 198 Hence he concludes, that albumen..is the true ferment. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) I. v. 138 Pasteur..proved the real ‘ferments’..to be organised beings. 1890 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. LVII. 530 The expression ferment is more frequently than not employed as the equivalent of unorganised ferment... Several words have been coined in place of unorganised ferment, notably zymase and enzyme. 1945 E. B. Ford Butterflies iii. 58 It [sc. melanin] is produced by the oxidation of..‘tyrosin’ (an amino-acid), through the action of a ferment, ‘tyrosinase’. |
| fig. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §267 The..ferment of all..Religious actions, is Wisedome. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. xix. (Rtldg.) 224 This hypothesis lays a ferment for frequent rebellion. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 173 Gentle ferments working in our breasts. 1877 Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/5 A ferment long confined to individuals, but which may..become the leaven of the race. |
† b. spec. in Alchemy (cf. fermentation 1 b); sometimes applied to the ‘philosopher's stone’. Also in cosmological speculations (see quot. 1677).
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. ix. in Ashm. (1652) 175 Ferment whych Leven we call. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. ii, The red ferment Has done his office. 1677 Phil. Trans. XII. 884 By Ferments he means the aforesaid Principles, (or Seminal sparks hidden in matter) actually put into motion, and by the variety of that motion producing the variety of bodies. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. vii. 193 Those Shells arise de novo, not barely from the Plastick power of the Earth..but from certain Seminal Ferments brought thither. |
2. = fermentation 1.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. i. vii. 28 The more strong the wine shal be, the more sharpe the ferment of the vineger. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. ii. 75 He through the Mass a mighty Ferment spread. 1707 Floyer Physic. Pulse-Watch 208 Abating the Ferment and Quantity of Humours. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Quinquina, Stopping the Ferment of Intermitting Fevers. 1744 Berkeley Siris §111 The first ferment of new wine. |
3. fig. Agitation, excitement, tumult; = fermentation 2.
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 33 The Ecclesiastical Rigours here were in the highest ferment. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 140 Several Factions from this first Ferment, Work up to Foam, and threat the Government. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 88 The minister..attempted to allay the general ferment. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. ix. 240 A ferment of sinister feelings. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 20 The foreign embassies were all in a ferment. |
4. attrib. and Comb.
| 1863 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 634 Ferment-oils..are volatile oils, produced by the fermentation of various plants, not originally contained therein, and essentially different from the oils which are extracted from unfermented plants by distillation with water. 1886 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 400/2 In 1870 Pasteur had proved that a disease of silkworms was due to a ferment⁓organism of the nature of a Schizomycete. 1898 H. Manders (title) The ferment treatment of cancer and tuberculosis. |
▪ III. ferment, v.
(fəˈmɛnt)
[a. F. fermenter, ad. L. fermentāre, f. fermentum leaven: see prec. n.]
1. intr. Of material substances (in early use primarily of dough or saccharine fluids): To undergo the action of a ferment; to suffer fermentation; to ‘work’. (The precise meaning has varied with that of the ns. ferment, fermentation.)
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxviii. (1495) 644 Soure dough hyghte fermentum, for it makyth paast ferment and maketh it also aryse [excrescere et fervere facit pastam]. 1663 Cowley Verses, To Royal Society iv, All their juyce did..Ferment into a..refreshing Wine. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 190 Flies swarming, about any piece of flesh that does begin a little to ferment. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 436 The tainted Blood..Begins to boyl, and thro' the Bones ferment. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 66 These mineral Substances..ferment, rise up in Vapours and Steams. 1791 Beddoes in Phil. Trans. LXXXI. 174 As it approaches more and more towards nature [malleable iron] it adheres less; and when the tools come clear up out of the mass, he judges it to be fermented enough [cf. fermentation 1 d]. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 6 Dung which has fermented. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 370 The blue precipitate..is removed into a copper boiler till it assumes the appearance of effervescing, or till it ferments. 1842 A. Combe Physiol. Digestion (ed. 4) 290 We allow bread to ferment. |
b. fig.
| 1671 Milton Samson 619 My griefs..ferment and rage. 1771 Johnson Lett. to Mrs. Thrale 3 July, These reflections fermented in my mind. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lxvii. 686 Fanaticism fermented in anarchy. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1885) I. i. 65 The northern counties were fermenting in a half-suppressed rebellion. 1879 O. W. Holmes Motley ii. 10 His mind was doubtless fermenting with projects. |
2. trans. To subject to fermentation; to cause fermentation in.
| 1672–3 Grew Anat. Roots ii. §18 (1682) 83 The Sap..is ..fermented therein. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 502 Liquors are fermented for the use of the table. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 373 The yest, made use of in the process of fermenting the dough. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 272 There was as much moisture as was necessary to ferment the straw. |
| fig. 1759 R. Hurd Dial. i. Sincerity in Commerce 29 Fanaticism..fermented with the leaven of earthly avarice. 1791–1823 D'Israeli Cur. Lit. (1866) 459/1 His vast..curiosity fermenting his immense book-knowledge. |
3. transf. and fig. To work up into a ferment or agitation; to excite, stir up.
| 1667 Decay Chr. Piety ix. §5 When bitter zeal was once fermented. 1704 Pope Windsor For. 93 Ye vig'rous swains, while youth ferments your blood. 1712 Blackmore Creation, Fierce winds..with their furious breath ferment the deep. 1837 Dickens Pickw. x, Ladies who are endeavouring to ferment themselves into hysterics. 1852 A. Jameson Leg. Madonna Introd. (1857) 25 A mere contemplative enthusiasm..fermented into life and form. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Religion Wks. (Bohn) II. 96 The Christianity which fermented Europe. |
b. To exacerbate; to foment, inflame.
| 1660 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 306 Findinge..the same disputes..fermented..against the merchants. a 1704 T. Brown Eng. Satire Wks. 1730 I. 28 He fermented the passions of the vicious. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. ii. Wks. 1799 I. 186 To..ferment a difference between husband and wife. 1868 Times 21 Jan., To shew him fermenting the Garibaldian movements. |