leaven
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle English levayn, borrowed from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, a noun based on Latin levō (“raise”).
Pronunciation
Noun
leaven (countable and uncountable, plural leavens)
- Any agent used to make dough rise or to have a similar effect on baked goods.
- (figurative) Anything that induces change, especially a corrupting or vitiating change.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 8:15:
- Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 299:
- On the far side was reflected a single red and meteoric cloud, which had treasured one last crimson ray from the sunset, or perhaps nursed within it the fiery leaven.
- 1926, T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York: Anchor, published 1991, page 213:
- The leaven of insincerity worked through all the fibres of his being.
Synonyms
- (any agent used to make dough rise): leavening agent, raising agent
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
- (any agent used to make dough rise): baking powder, yeast
Derived terms
- leavenless
- natural leaven
Translations
any agent used to make dough rise
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Verb
leaven (third-person singular simple present leavens, present participle leavening, simple past and past participle leavened)
- (transitive) To add a leavening agent.
- (transitive) To cause to rise by fermentation.
- (transitive, figuratively) To temper an action or decision.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- Duke. No more euasion:
We haue with a leauen'd, and prepared choice
Proceeded to you; therefore take your honors:[...]
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
- With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
- (transitive, figuratively) To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.
- 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes, London, published 1756, page 30:
- With these and the like deceivable doctrines, he levens also his prayer.
- 1716, Thomas Browne, edited by Samuel Johnson, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, published 1756, Part I, p. 7:
- […] pursue virtue virtuously: leven not good actions, nor render virtues disputable. Stain not fair acts with foul intentions […]
- To rise or become larger; to prove. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Alternative forms
- leven (obsolete)
Derived terms
Translations
to cause to rise by fermentation
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See also
Etymology
Verb
leaven (third-person singular present leavt, past tense leavte, past participle geleaved or geleavt, auxiliary haben or sein)
Noun
leaven
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