ferment-, fermento-

1. A chemical that causes organic substances to change or breakdown into different elements: The ferment that results from chemical processes involves the use of bacteria, yeasts, or other micro-organisms which typically involve effervescence (bubbling) and give off heat.

Modern chemists recognize two classes of ferments:

2. Etymology: from Middle French ferment; from Latin fermentum, "leaven" (to raise, to make bread dough expand); from root of fervere, "to boil, to seethe, to foam".

1. To produce or to undergo a gradual chemical change in which yeast, bacteria, and enzymes change sugars into alcohol or lactic acid, a colorless, odorless acid that is formed in sour milk, etc: When Mike was visiting the winery, he learned that when grape juice ferments, it is part of the production of wine.
2. To seethe or to be disturbed by social agitation or excitement in order to promote changes: Demonstrations by union workers fermented when the company decided to reduce the number of employees, including Sharon's husband.

When a certain politician was caught taking part in drugs, the legislative members were fermenting to get him to quit and when that didn't work, they voted to reduce his power of office.

3. Etymology: from Latin, "leaven or yeast"; generally an agent that causes fermenting.

The capability of producing gradual chemical changes in which bacteria, enzymes, etc., change sugar into alcohol and produce carbon dioxide: The fermentability of yeasts can be seen in certain foods when alcohol is produced.

Fermentability is possible in a process resulting in alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, and whiskey.

Pertaining to the decomposition of organic compounds: There are fermentable changes that take place when glucose is converted into ethyl alcohol through the action of yeast or bacteria.

Yoghurt is a result of fermentable milk with bacteria.

Wine comes from leaving fermentable grape juice to chemically change when all of the sugar has turned into alcohol.

A name applied in reproach by Latin Christians to those of the Greek church: There seems to be an ongoing disagreement between Latin Christians and Orthodox Christians, or fermentarians, who use leavened bread for the ceremony of the Eucharist.

1. An apparatus that maintains the ideal conditions for growing of microorganisms: Fermentaters are used in large-scale fermentation and in the commercial production of antibiotics and hormones.
3. An organism that causes chemical changes in certain foods: Bacteria, molds, and yeasts are the principal fermentaters in the decomposition of complex substances.

1. The chemical decomposition of a complex substance; especially, a carbohydrate, into simpler chemical products, brought about by the action of enzymes, bacteria, yeasts, or molds; usually in the absence of oxygen: Fermentation may be a natural process, or one brought about or enhanced technically to produce a desired end product.

The fermentation of grape juice makes wine, and the fermentation of corn products is used to produce ethanol fuel.

Yeasts conduct fermentation in the absence of oxygen, so wine is produced in closed containers in order to keep oxygen in the air away from the crushed grapes.

2. A process of the nature of that which results from the operation of leaven on dough or on saccharine liquids: The features that are more recognizable in the fermentation process of yeast, enzymes, etc. are an effervescence or bubbling appearance.

Before the rise of modern chemistry, the term fermentation was applied to all elements that produced transformations which presented heat; for example, in Alchemy, it was the name of an internal change supposed to be produced in metals by a fermentation, operating like leaven.

In modern science, fermentation is restricted to a definite class of chemical modifications peculiar to organic compounds, and produced in them by the stimulus of enzymes.

3. A condition in which excitement is caused by emotion, passion, or agitation: The fermentation in the crowd encouraged Susan and Sarah and the rest of the students in the gathering to sing the national anthem.

The product which results from the conversion of biomass materials into alcohol in a process of enzymatic transformation by micro-organisms: Fermentation ethanol is a result of yeasts acting on organic compounds; such as, sugars.

"Enzymatic transformation" refers to a natural chemical produced by animal and plant cells which provide reactions and other processes to begin; as in, fermentation ethanol.

A reference to a disease that is produced by some deadly organism acting on the body's system; such as, organic substances that breakdown and become different elements: There are some fermentatious ailments that take place in the large intestine.

Characteristic of the production of a chemical reaction that cause organic molecules to split into simpler elements: The fermentative processes involve the conversion of sugars, and sugars derived from starch, into ethyl alcohol by the enzymes of yeast.

Determining or identifying physical symptoms; such as, pain, fever, and other illnesses: Any fermentdiagnosticum is meant to confirm an underlying cause of a disease or disorder.

The invention and development of the microscope provided more accurate fermentdiagnostica of the body's structure and function, and to a better understanding of how organs and tissues are affected by ailments.

The discovery that micro-organisms; such as, bacteria and fungi, can cause sicknesses or maladies, resulted in a germ theory and fermentdiagnosticum by, among others, the French microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) and the German bacteriologist Robert Koch (1843-1910).

Modern technology; such as, ultrasounds, endoscopies, body scannings (CT scanning and magnetic resonance imaging), and biopsies all provide more detailed and accurate fermentdiagnostica about the internal organs of patients.

1. A reference to a liquor that has been through the process of chemical changes: Beer, sherry, and other alcoholic drinks are the results of fermented processes of chemical transformations of sugar.

Most fermented drinks are developed by a process that is used to produce ethanol, the strong chemical in alcoholic drinks which come from fruits or grain.

2. Relating to leavened bread: Substances; such as, baking soda or cream of tartar, are added to batters and doughs to produce fermented bread that expands so it is light or lighter.

An abnormal amount of bacteria in the blood resulting in the production of toxins or poisons: Various kinds of fermentemias may be caused by micro-organisms, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and other parasites which can infect the blood at some stage.

1. A device employed in the technical process of brewing beer: The first step in brewing beer is the fermenter called malting, a procedure which partly converts barley starch into sugar.
2. An organism that carries out a chemical change: A fermenter can cause milk to sour and bread to expand and so be softer.

The fermenter of milk is necessary in the production of cheese.

A system in which a chemical element causes an organic element to break down into simpler substances: One of the best known examples of fermenting involves the anaerobic (no free oxygen present) breakdown of sugar into alcohol.