Adjacent Words

Leaven definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LEAVEN, n. lev'n. [L. levo, Eng. to lift.]
1. A mass of sour dough, which, mixed with a larger quantity of dough or paste, produces fermentation in it and renders it light. During the seven days of the passover, no leaven was permitted to be in the houses of the Jews. Exodus 12.
2. Any thing which makes a general change in the mass. It generally means something which corrupts or depraves that with which it is mixed.
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Matthew 16.
LEAVEN, v.t. lev'n.
1. To excite fermentation in; to raise and make light, as dough or paste.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 1 Corinthians 5.
2. to taint; to imbue.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a substance used to produce fermentation in dough or a liquid [syn: leaven, leavening]
2: an influence that works subtly to lighten or modify something; "his sermons benefited from a leavening of humor" [syn: leaven, leavening] v
1: cause to puff up with a leaven; "unleavened bread" [syn: raise, leaven, prove]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English levain, from Anglo-French levein, from Vulgar Latin *levamen, from Latin levare to raise — more at lever Date: 14th century 1. a. a substance (as yeast) used to produce fermentation in dough or a liquid; especially sourdough b. a material (as baking powder) used to produce a gas that lightens dough or batter 2. something that modifies or lightens II. transitive verb (leavened; leavening) Date: 15th century 1. to raise (as bread) with a leaven 2. to mingle or permeate with some modifying, alleviating, or vivifying element; especially lighten <a sermon leavened with humor> Synonyms: see infuse

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a substance added to dough to make it ferment and rise, esp. yeast, or fermenting dough reserved for the purpose. 2 a a pervasive transforming influence (cf. Matt.
13:33). b (foll. by of) a tinge or admixture of a specified quality. --v.tr. 1 ferment (dough) with leaven. 2 a permeate and transform. b (foll. by with) modify with a tempering element. Phrases and idioms: the old leaven traces of the unregenerate state (cf. 1 Cor.
5:6-8). Etymology: ME f. OF levain f. Gallo-Roman spec. use of L levamen relief f. levare lift

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(leavens, leavening, leavened) If a situation or activity is leavened by or with something, it is made more interesting or cheerful. His mood of deep pessimism cannot have been leavened by his mode of transport–a black cab... He found congenial officers who knew how to leaven war's rigours with riotous enjoyment. VERB: be V-ed by/with n, V n by/with n, also V n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(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).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

lev'-n (se'or, chamets; zume; Latin fermentum): The nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews, like the Bedouin of today, probably made their bread without leaven; but leaven came to play a great part in their bread-making, their law and ritual, and their religious teaching (see Ex 12:15,19; 13:7; Le 2:11; De 16:4; Mt 13:33; 16:6-12; Mr 8:15 f; Lu 12:1; 13:21).

(1) In Bread-Making.

The form of leaven used in bread-making and the method of using it were simple and definite. The "leaven" consisted always, so far as the evidence goes, of a piece of fermented dough kept over from a former baking. There is no trace of the use of other sorts of leaven, such as the lees of wine or those mentioned by Pliny (NH, xviii.26). The lump of dough thus preserved was either dissolved in water in the kneading-trough before the flour was added, or was "hid" in the flour (the King James Version "meal") and kneaded along with it, as was the case mentioned in the parable (Mt 13:33). The bread thus made was known as "leavened," as distinguished from "unleavened" bread (Ex 12:15, etc.).

See BREAD.

(2) In Law and Ritual.

The ritual prohibition of leaven during "the feast of unleavened bread" including the Passover (Ex 23:15, etc.) is a matter inviting restudy. For the historical explanation given in the Scriptures, see especially Ex 12:34-39; 13:3 ff; De 16:3. The antiquity of the prohibition is witnessed by its occurrence in the earliest legislation (Ex 23:18; 34:25). A natural reason for the prohibition, like that of the similar exclusion of honey, is sought on the ground that fermentation implied a process of corruption. Plutarch voices this ancient view of the matter when he speaks of it as "itself the offspring of corruption, and corrupting the mass of dough with which it is mixed." Fermentatum is used in Persius (Sat., i.24) for "corruption." For this reason doubtless it was excluded also from the offerings placed upon the altar of Yahweh, cakes made from flour without leaven, and these only, being allowed. The regulation name for these "unleavened cakes" was matstsoth (Le 10:12). Two exceptions to this rule should be noted (Le 7:13; compare Am 4:5): "leavened bread" was an accompaniment of the thank offering as leavened loaves were used also in the wave offering of Le 23:17. Rabbinical writers regularly use leaven as a symbol of evil (Lightfoot).

(3) In Teaching.

The figurative uses of leaven in the New Testament, no less than with the rabbins, reflect the ancient view of it as "corrupt and corrupting," in parts at least, e.g. Mt 16:6 parallel, and especially the proverbial saying twice quoted by Paul, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1Co 5:6 f; Ga 5:9). But as Jesus used it in Mt 13:33, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven," it is clearly the hidden, silent, mysterious but all-pervading and transforming action of the leaven in the measures of flour that is the point of the comparison.

LITERATURE.

Nowack, Hebrew Arch., II, 145 f; Talmud, Berakhoth, 17a; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebrew. on Mt 16:6.

George B. Eager

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Yeast, ferment, barm, fermenting substance. 2. Pervading influence. II. v. a. 1. Produce or excite fermentation in, ferment, raise, lighten. 2. Imbue, pervade, permeate, tinge, color, inspire, elevate, lift. 3. Imbue, infect, vitiate, taint.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, adjust to, agent, alter, alterant, alterative, alterer, assuage, bespread, besprinkle, box in, breathe, brew, catalyst, catalytic agent, circumscribe, color, condition, crawl with, creep with, decoct, diffuse, diminish, dredge, dye, entincture, extend throughout, ferment, fermentation, fill, flavor, hedge, hedge about, honeycomb, imbrue, imbue, impregnate, infiltrate, infuse, innovationist, innovator, instill, introducer, leave no void, leavening, limit, mitigate, moderate, modificator, modifier, modify, modulate, narrow, occupy, overrun, overspread, overswarm, palliate, penetrate, permeate, pervade, precursor, qualify, raise, reduce, regulate by, restrain, restrict, run through, saturate, season, set conditions, set limits, soften, steep, suffuse, swarm with, teem with, temper, tincture, tinge, transformer, transfuse, transmogrifier, yeast