Chapter Feoffee to Ferret of F by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

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.

Ferment
(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.

Ferment
(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.

Fermentability
(Fer*ment`a*bil"i*ty) n. Capability of fermentation.

Fermentable
(Fer*ment"a*ble) a. [Cf. F. fermentable.] Capable of fermentation; as, cider and other vegetable liquors are fermentable.

Fermental
(Fer*ment"al) a. Fermentative. [Obs.]

Fermentation
(Fer`men*ta"tion) n. [Cf. F. fermentation.]

1. The process of undergoing an effervescent change, as by the action of yeast; in a wider sense (Physiol. Chem.), the transformation of an organic substance into new compounds by the action of a ferment, either formed or unorganized. It differs in kind according to the nature of the ferment which causes it.

2. A state of agitation or excitement, as of the intellect or the feelings.

It puts the soul to fermentation and activity.

Jer. Taylor.

A univesal fermentation of human thought and faith.

C. Kingsley.

Acetous, or Acetic, fermentation, a form of oxidation in which alcohol is converted into vinegar or acetic acid by the agency of a specific fungus or ferment The process involves two distinct reactions, in which the oxygen of the air is essential. An intermediate product, aldehyde, is formed in the first process.