Barm

//bɑːm// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    bosom dialectal, obsolete
  2. 2
    Foam rising upon beer or other malt liquors when fermenting, used as leaven in brewing and making bread; yeast. countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable

    "[A]nd sometimes make the drink to bear no barm."

  3. 3
    a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey wordnet
  4. 4
    lap dialectal, obsolete
  5. 5
    A small, round, flat individual loaf or roll of bread. countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To spurge; foam dialectal, obsolete

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English barm, barme, berm, bearm, from Old English bearm (“lap; bosom”), from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“lap; bosom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with German Barm (“lap; bosom”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English berme, berm, from Old English beorma, from Proto-West Germanic *bermō (“yeast; barm”); related to the dialectal Low German Bärm (“yeast”), from Middle Low German barm, berm. The cake sense is possibly a shortened form of barmcake, which would be made with yeast as described in that sense, or possibly it is from the Irish bairín breac, a type of bread.

Etymology 3

From Middle English bermen, from the noun (see above).

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