online medical dictionary | definition of foment

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. "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. " But quench the choler you foment in vain." (Dryden) " Exciting and fomenting a religious rebellion." (Southey)

Origin: 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. To roast, and E. Bake.

(01 Mar 1998)