ferment
English
Etymology
From Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentāre (“to leaven, ferment”), from fermentum (“substance causing fermentation”), from fervēre (“to boil, seethe”). See also fervent.
Pronunciation
- (verb):
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fəˈmɛnt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɚˈmɛnt/
- Rhymes: -ɛnt
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fəˈmɛnt/
- (noun):
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈfəː.mɛnt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈfɚ.mɛnt/
Verb
ferment (third-person singular simple present ferments, present participle fermenting, simple past and past participle fermented)
- To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
- 2020 November 18, Drachinifel, The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 2 - Up She Rises!, archived from the original on 22 October 2022, retrieved 30 October 2022, 6:21 from the start:
- The cleanup job would turn out to be possibly second only to body-recovery duty in terms of being a job that nobody wanted to get assigned to. Imagine, for a moment, a thick soup of oil, paper, ink, clothing, raw meat and other fresh provisions, and worse, that had all been left to collect together in semi-warm water, all enclosed in a large metal container that had then been subjected to heating by first fire and then repeated warm Hawaiian days, and then left to ferment for over a month, and then with most of the water drained away and all the remaining solid and semi-liquid mass collecting together in pools and heaps across multiple decks, still in a relatively-enclosed environment.
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- To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.
- 1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, OCLC 43265629:
- Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.
- 1726, James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, OCLC 642619686, lines 10–14, page 165:
- Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain; / Trod the pure virgin-ſnows, myſelf as pure; / Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burſt; / Or ſeen the deep fermenting tempeſt brew'd, / In the grim evening ſky.
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Derived terms
- referment, re-ferment
Translations
to react using fermentation
|
to cause unrest
|
Noun
ferment (plural ferments)
- Something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation.
- A state of agitation or of turbulent change.
- a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation
- Subdue and cool the ferment of desire.
- 14 November, 1770, Junius, letter to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield
- The nation is in a ferment.
- 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 104
- Clad in a Persian-Renaissance gown and a widow's tiara of white batiste, Mrs Thoroughfare, in all the ferment of a Marriage-Christening, left her chamber on vapoury autumn day and descending a few stairs, and climbing a few others, knocked a trifle brusquely at her son's wife's door.
- a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation
- A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.
- 1748, James Thomson, “Canto II”, in The Castle of Indolence: […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 54163524, stanza XXX, page 56:
- A Rage of Pleaſure madden'd every Breaſt, / Down to the loweſt Lees the Ferment ran: [...]
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- A catalyst.
Translations
substance causing fermentation
|
state of agitation
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gentle internal movement
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catalyst
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See also
- foment
References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “ferment”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ferment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- Fermentation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Anagrams
- fretmen
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
ferment
- third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of fermer
Polish
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin fermentum.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɛr.mɛnt/
Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɛrmɛnt
- Syllabification: fer‧ment
Noun
ferment m inan
- ferment, unrest
- (archaic, biochemistry) enzyme
- Synonym: enzym
Declension
Declension of ferment
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | ferment | fermenty |
genitive | fermentu | fermentów |
dative | fermentowi | fermentom |
accusative | ferment | fermenty |
instrumental | fermentem | fermentami |
locative | fermencie | fermentach |
vocative | fermencie | fermenty |
Related terms
adjective
- fermentacyjny
noun
- fermentacja
verbs
- fermentować
- sfermentować
Further reading
- ferment in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- ferment in Polish dictionaries at PWN
Romanian
Etymology
From French ferment, from Latin fermentum.
Noun
ferment m (plural fermenți)
- ferment
Declension
Declension of ferment
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) ferment | fermentul | (niște) fermenți | fermenții |
genitive/dative | (unui) ferment | fermentului | (unor) fermenți | fermenților |
vocative | fermentule | fermenților |