Fer"ment (?), n. [L. fermentum
ferment (in senses 1 & 2), perh. for fervimentum, fr.
fervere to be boiling hot, boil, ferment: cf. F.
ferment. Cf. 1st Barm, Fervent.]
1. That which causes fermentation, as yeast,
barm, or fermenting beer.
&fist; Ferments are of two kinds: (a) Formed or organized
ferments. (b) Unorganized or structureless ferments. The
latter are also called soluble or chemical ferments, and
enzymes. Ferments of the first class are as a rule simple
microscopic vegetable organisms, and the fermentations which they
engender are due to their growth and development; as, the acetic
ferment, the butyric ferment, etc. See
Fermentation. Ferments of the second class, on the other hand,
are chemical substances, as a rule soluble in glycerin and
precipitated by alcohol. In action they are catalytic and, mainly,
hydrolytic. Good examples are pepsin of the dastric juice, ptyalin of
the salvia, and disease of malt.
2. Intestine motion; heat; tumult;
agitation.
Subdue and cool the ferment of
desire.
Rogers.
the nation is in a ferment.
Walpole.
3. A gentle internal motion of the
constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation. [R.]
Down to the lowest lees the ferment
ran.
Thomson.
ferment oils, volatile oils produced by the
fermentation of plants, and not originally contained in them. These
were the quintessences of the alchenists.
Ure.
Fer*ment" (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Fermented; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fermenting.] [L. fermentare, fermentatum: cf. F.
fermenter. See Ferment, n.] To
cause ferment of fermentation in; to set in motion; to excite
internal emotion in; to heat.
Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your
blood.
Pope.
Fer*ment", v. i. 1.
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.
2. To be agitated or excited by violent
emotions.
But finding no redress, ferment and
rage.
Milton.
The intellect of the age was a fermenting
intellect.
De Quincey.
