fermet

An obsolete variant of farm1. ferment (fer'ment), n. [F. ferment = Sp. Pg. It. fermento, which convert starch into a soluble modification or into sugar; pepsin, which di olves proteids, forming peptones; emulsin, which resolves amygdalin into oil of bitter al monds, pru ic acid, and dextrose. Use this ferment For musty brede, whom this wol condyment. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 205. 3. Figuratively, commotion; heat; tumult; agitation: as, to put the pa ions in a ferment. The nation is in too high a ferment for me to expect either fair war, or even so much as fair quarter, from a reader of the opposite party. Dryden, Pref. to Hind and Panther. There was a ferment in the minds of men, a vague craving for something new. Macaulay , Moore's Byron. The lowest population of the great cities, from Balti more to Chicago, rose in ferment and mischief. G. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, II. 426. Acetic ferment. See acetic. - Fibrin ferment. See fibrin. Universal ferment, in alchemy, a supposed chemical substance of such a nature that, applied to any animal, vegetable, or mineral, it improves the latter, so as to make it the most perfect thing of its kind.