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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Ferments are of two kinds: (a) Formed or organized ferments. (b) Unorganized or structureless ferments. The latter are now called enzymes and were formerly called soluble ferments or chemical ferments. 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 they are proteins 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. Before 1960 the term "ferment" to mean "enzyme" fell out of use. Enzymes are now known to be globular proteins, capable of catalyzing a wide variety of chemical reactions, not merely hydrolytic. The full set of enzymes causing production of ethyl alcohol from sugar has been identified and individually purified and studied. See enzyme. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. Intestine motion; heat; tumult; agitation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Subdue and cool the ferment of desire. Rogers. [ 1913 Webster ]

the nation is in a ferment. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Down to the lowest lees the ferment ran. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

ferment oils, volatile oils produced by the fermentation of plants, and not originally contained in them. These were the quintessences of the alchemists. Ure. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be agitated or excited by violent emotions. [ 1913 Webster ]

But finding no redress, ferment and rage. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

The intellect of the age was a fermenting intellect. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Fermented; p. pr. & vb. n. Fermenting. ] [ L. fermentare, fermentatum: cf. F. fermenter. See Ferment, n. ] To cause ferment or fermentation in; to set in motion; to excite internal emotion in; to heat. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Capability of fermentation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. fermentable. ] Capable of fermentation; as, cider and other vegetable liquors are fermentable. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Fermentative. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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{ 1 }, whether in the form of living organisms or enzymes. It differs in kind according to the nature of the ferment which causes it. In industrial microbiology fermentation usually refers to the production of chemical substances by use of microorganisms. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

2. A state of agitation or excitement, as of the intellect or the feelings. [ 1913 Webster ]

It puts the soul to fermentation and activity. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

A univesal fermentation of human thought and faith. C. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

Acetous fermentation or
Acetic fermentation, a form of oxidation in which alcohol is converted into vinegar or acetic acid by the agency of a specific fungus (Mycoderma aceti) or series of enzymes. The process involves two distinct reactions, in which the oxygen of the air is essential. An intermediate product, acetaldehyde, is formed in the first process. 1. C2H6O + O → H2O + C2H4O Alcohol. Water. Acetaldehyde. 2. C2H4O + O → C2H4O2 Acetaldehyde. Acetic acid. --
Alcoholic fermentation, the fermentation which saccharine bodies undergo when brought in contact with the yeast plant or Torula. The sugar is converted, either directly or indirectly, into alcohol and carbonic acid, the rate of action being dependent on the rapidity with which the Torulæ develop. --
Ammoniacal fermentation, the conversion of the urea of the urine into ammonium carbonate, through the growth of the special urea ferment. CON2H4 + 2H2O = (NH4)2CO3 Urea. Water. Ammonium carbonate. [ 1913 Webster ] Whenever urine is exposed to the air in open vessels for several days it undergoes this alkaline fermentation. --
Butyric fermentation, the decomposition of various forms of organic matter, through the agency of a peculiar worm-shaped vibrio, with formation of more or less butyric acid. It is one of the many forms of fermentation that collectively constitute putrefaction. See Lactic fermentation. --
enzymatic fermentation or
Fermentation by an unorganized ferment. Fermentations of this class are purely chemical reactions, in which the enzyme acts as a simple catalytic agent. Of this nature are the decomposition or inversion of cane sugar into levulose and dextrose by boiling with dilute acids, the conversion of starch into dextrin and sugar by similar treatment, the conversion of starch into like products by the action of diastase of malt or ptyalin of saliva, the conversion of albuminous food into peptones and other like products by the action of pepsin-hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice or by the ferment of the pancreatic juice. --
Fermentation theory of disease (Biol. & Med.), the theory that most if not all, infectious or zymotic disease are caused by the introduction into the organism of the living germs of ferments, or ferments already developed (organized ferments), by which processes of fermentation are set up injurious to health. See Germ theory. --
Glycerin fermentation, the fermentation which occurs on mixing a dilute solution of glycerin with a peculiar species of schizomycetes and some carbonate of lime, and other matter favorable to the growth of the plant, the glycerin being changed into butyric acid, caproic acid, butyl, and ethyl alcohol. With another form of bacterium (Bacillus subtilis) ethyl alcohol and butyric acid are mainly formed. --
Lactic fermentation, the transformation of milk sugar or other saccharine body into lactic acid, as in the souring of milk, through the agency of a special bacterium (Bacterium lactis of Lister). In this change the milk sugar, before assuming the form of lactic acid, presumably passes through the stage of glucose. C12H22O11.H2O --> 4C3H6O3 Hydrated milk sugar. Lactic acid. [ 1913 Webster ] In the lactic fermentation of dextrose or glucose, the lactic acid which is formed is very prone to undergo butyric fermentation after the manner indicated in the following equation: 2C3H6O3 (lactic acid) --> C4H8O2 (butyric acid) + 2CO2 (carbonic acid) + 2H2 (hydrogen gas). --
Putrefactive fermentation. See Putrefaction. [ 1913 Webster ]

. a tank in which fermentations are carried out. [ PJC ]

a. [ Cf. F. fermentatif. ] Causing, or having power to cause, fermentation; produced by fermentation; fermenting; as, a fermentative process.

-- Fer*ment"a*tive*ly, adv. -- Fer*ment"a*tive*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an apparatus for carrying out fermentation by a liquid suspension of microorganisms; a fermentation tank; as, an industrial fermenter. Laboratiory and industrial fermenters are usually equipped with a means of stirring the contained liquid so as to avoid settling of the fermenting organisms, and often have other, sometimes elaborate, mechanisms to control conditions of the fermentation, such as temperature, degree of aeration, or pH. The main structures of large industrial fermenters are typically made of steel. [ PJC ]