ferment
[noun fur-ment; verb fer-ment]
- Also called organized ferment. any of a group of living organisms, as yeasts, molds, and certain bacteria, that cause fermentation.
- Also called unorganized ferment. an enzyme.
- fermentation.
- agitation; unrest; excitement; commotion; tumult: The new painters worked in a creative ferment. The capital lived in a political ferment.
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- to act upon as a ferment.
- to cause to undergo fermentation.
- to inflame; foment: to ferment prejudiced crowds to riot.
- to cause agitation or excitement in: Reading fermented his active imagination.
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- to be fermented; undergo fermentation.
- to seethe with agitation or excitement.
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Origin of ferment
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin fermentum yeast (noun), fermentāre to cause to rise (v.); akin to barm, Latin fervēre to boil
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fermented
Contemporary Examples
That means that Champagne is fermented a second time in the bottle when sealed closed, which naturally produces the bubbles.
The malted barley, yeast, and water are cooked, fermented, and distilled exactly the same.
How Much Do Whisky Casks Really Affect Taste?December 10, 2014
Some of the most popular include Kriek (fermented with sour cherries), Framboise (raspberries), and Pêche (peaches).
Their partnership was fermented in the most unlikely of places.
That sugar juice is then fermented in a process nearly identical to that used to make rum.
Historical Examples
The Aztecs, and the Toltecs before them, had the fermented juice of the maguey plant.
Aztec LandMaturin M. Ballou
This method produces what is known as the "fermented cocoa."
Human Foods and Their Nutritive ValueHarry Snyder
I think so quite apart from the question about fermented liquor.
What I Saw in AmericaG. K. Chesterton
The original North American knew no fermented or spirituous drink.
The Indian TodayCharles A. Eastman
The methglin is a fermented liquor, of some potency, made from honey.
ferment
- any agent or substance, such as a bacterium, mould, yeast, or enzyme, that causes fermentation
- another word for fermentation
- commotion; unrest
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- to undergo or cause to undergo fermentation
- to stir up or seethe with excitement
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin fermentum yeast, from fervēre to seethe
xref
See foment
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for fermented
ferment
n.
early 15c., from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentum (see ferment (v.)). Figurative sense of "anger, passion" is from 1670s.
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ferment
v.
late 14c., from Old French fermenter (13c.) and directly from Latin fermentare "to leaven, ferment," from fermentum "substance causing fermentation, leaven," from root of fervere "to boil, seethe" (see brew). Figurative use from 1650s. Related: Fermented; fermenting.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ferment
(fûr′mĕnt′)- An agent, as a yeast, bacterium, mold, or enzyme, that causes fermentation.
- Fermentation.
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- To cause or undergo fermentation.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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