leaven definition | Dictionary.com

leav⋅en

[lev-uh

–noun

1.	a substance, as yeast or baking powder, that causes fermentation and expansion of dough or batter.

2.	fermented dough reserved for producing fermentation in a new batch of dough.

3.	an element that produces an altering or transforming influence.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to add leaven to (dough or batter) and cause to rise.

5.	to permeate with an altering or transforming element.

Origin:
1300–50; ME levain < AF, OF levain < VL *levāmen, equiv. to L levā(re) to raise + -men deverbal n. suffix (prob. not continuous with L levāmen means of alleviating, solace)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To leaven

leav·en (lěv'ən)

An agent, such as yeast, that causes batter or dough to rise, especially by fermentation.
An element, influence, or agent that works subtly to lighten, enliven, or modify a whole.

tr.v. leav·ened, leav·en·ing, leav·ens

To add a rising agent to.
To cause to rise, especially by fermentation.
To pervade with a lightening, enlivening, or modifying influence.

[Middle English, from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, from Latin levāre, to raise; see leg^wh- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Leaven

Leav"en\, n. [OE. levain, levein, F. levain, L. levamen alleviation, mitigation; but taken in the sense of, a raising, that which raises, fr. levare to raise. See Lever, n.]

1. Any substance that produces, or is designed to produce, fermentation, as in dough or liquids; esp., a portion of fermenting dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough, produces a general change in the mass, and renders it light; yeast; barm.

2. Anything which makes a general assimilating (especially a corrupting) change in the mass.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. --Luke xii. 1.

Leaven

Leav"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Leavened; p. pr. & vb. n. Leavening.]

1. To make light by the action of leaven; to cause to ferment.

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. --1 Cor. v. 6.

2. To imbue; to infect; to vitiate.

With these and the like deceivable doctrines, he leavens also his prayer. --Milton.

leaven (n.)

1340, from O.Fr. levain (12c.), from L. levamen "alleviation, mitigation," but used in V.L. in its literal sense of "a means of lifting, something that raises," from levare "to raise" (see lever). The verb is attested from 1422.

Leaven

(1.) Heb. seor (Ex. 12:15, 19; 13:7; Lev. 2:11), the remnant of dough from the preceding baking which had fermented and become acid. (2.) Heb. hamets, properly "ferment." In Num. 6:3, "vinegar of wine" is more correctly "fermented wine." In Ex. 13:7, the proper rendering would be, "Unfermented things [Heb. matstsoth] shall be consumed during the seven days; and there shall not be seen with thee fermented things [hamets], and there shall not be seen with thee leavened mass [seor] in all thy borders." The chemical definition of ferment or yeast is "a substance in a state of putrefaction, the atoms of which are in a continual motion." The use of leaven was strictly forbidden in all offerings made to the Lord by fire (Lev. 2:11; 7:12; 8:2; Num. 6:15). Its secretly penetrating and diffusive power is referred to in 1 Cor. 5:6. In this respect it is used to illustrate the growth of the kingdom of heaven both in the individual heart and in the world (Matt. 13:33). It is a figure also of corruptness and of perverseness of heart and life (Matt. 16:6, 11; Mark 8:15; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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