FOMENTING

Etymology

Verb

fomenting

present participle of foment

fomenting a revolution

Source: Wiktionary


FOMENT

Fo*ment", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fomented; p. pr. & vb. n. Fomenting.] Etym: [F. fomenter, fr. L. fomentare, fr. fomentum (for fovimentum) a warm application or lotion, fr. fovere to warm or keep warm; perh. akin to Gr. bake.]

1. To apply a warm lotion to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge wet with warm water or medicated liquid.

2. To cherish with heat; to foster. [Obs.] Which these soft fires . . . foment and warm. Milton.

3. To nurse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; -- used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors. Locke. But quench the choler you foment in vain. Dryden. Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion. Southey.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

13 January 2025

SOAK

(noun) the process of becoming softened and saturated as a consequence of being immersed in water (or other liquid); “a good soak put life back in the wagon”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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