| ferment | 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) Origin: L. Fermentare, fermentatum: cf. F. Fermenter. See Ferment. 1. That which causes fermentation, as yeast, barm, or fermenting beer. Ferments are of two kinds: (a) Formed or organised ferments. (b) Unorganised 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. "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. Origin: 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. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
|---|---|
| fermentable | Capable of undergoing fermentation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fermentation | <microbiology> The anaerobic enzymatic conversion of organic compounds, especially carbohydrates, to simpler compounds, especially to ethyl alcohol, resulting in energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The process is used in the production of alcohol, bread, vinegar and other food or industrial products. It differs from respiration in that organic substances rather than molecular oxygen are used as electron acceptors. Fermentation occurs widely in bacteria and yeasts, the process usually being identified by the product formed, for example, acetic, alcoholic, butyric and lactic fermentation are those that result in the formation of acetic acid, alcohol, butyric acid and lactic acid, respectively. Origin: L. Fermentatio (18 Nov 1997) |
| fermentation Lactobacillus casei factor | Pteroyl-gamma-glutamyl-gamma-glutamylglutamic acid;a folic acid conjugate, a principle chemically similar to folic acid except that it contains three molecules of glutamic acid instead of one, in g linkage. Synonym: fermentation Lactobacillus casei factor, pteroyltriglutamic acid. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fermentation substrates | Materials used as food for growing microorganisms, part of the culture medium along with chemicals that facilitate fermentation and other trace materials. (14 Nov 1997) |
| fermentative | Causing or having the ability to cause fermentation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fermentative dyspepsia | Dyspepsia accompanied by fermentation of the contents of the stomach, usually occurring in gastric dilation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fermenter | <apparatus> In biotechnology, a fermenter is the container in which host cells containing recombinant DNA are grown. Ferments can vary in size from less than a liter for experimental systems to thousands of liters for commercial systems. The one constant is that they are closed tanks. (14 Nov 1997) |
| fermentor | A device used to grow large amounts of bacteria in liquid culture. The device generally can hold more than 10 litres of liquid growth medium, has a heater to provide constant temperature, and has an agitator for aeration. (09 Oct 1997) |