Wiktionary

ferment

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentāre (“to leaven, ferment”), from fermentum (“substance causing fermentation”), possibly from contraction of *fervimentum, from fervēre. See also fervent.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ferment (third-person singular simple present ferments, present participle fermenting, simple past and past participle fermented)

  1. To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
    • 2020 November 18, Drachinifel, 6:21 from the start, in The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 2 - Up She Rises!‎[1], archived from the original on 22 October 2022:
      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.
  2. To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.
    • 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
      Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.
    • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 165, lines 10–14:
      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.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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ferment (plural ferments)

  1. Something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation.
  2. 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.
    • 2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, chapter 5, in Illusion of Order:
      Proponents of the broken windows theory assume that [disorder] means a neighborhood has lost control and doesn't care about crime. But surely there are other plausible meanings. It could signal artistic ferment, a youth hangout, rebellion, or an alternative lifestyle.
  3. A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.
  4. A catalyst.

Translations

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See also

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References

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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From Latin fermentum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ferment m (plural ferments)

  1. ferment

Derived terms

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Further reading

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French

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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ferment

  1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of fermer

Polish

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Etymology

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Etymology tree
Latin fermentumlbor.
Polish ferment

    Learned borrowing from Latin fermentum.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    ferment m inan

    1. ferment, unrest
    2. (archaic, biochemistry) enzyme
      Synonym: enzym

    Declension

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    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
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    adjective
    noun
    verbs

    Further reading

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    • “ferment”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
    • “ferment”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎[3] (in Polish)

    Romanian

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from French ferment, from Latin fermentum.

    Noun

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    ferment m (plural fermenți)

    1. ferment

    Declension

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    singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative-accusative ferment fermentul fermenți fermenții
    genitive-dative ferment fermentului fermenți fermenților
    vocative fermentule fermenților
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