American Heritage Dictionary
(5)
Century Dictionary
(6)
GNU Webster's 1913
(2)
WordNet
(3)
Elsewhere on the web
Finally to quote the metaphor of J. Arthur Thomson, one may "think for a moment of a baker who has a very precious kind of leaven; he uses much of this in baking a large loaf; but he so arranges matters by a clever contrivance that part of the original leaven is always carried on unaltered, carefully preserved for the next baking.— Applied Eugenics
Again the leaven was at work in her, and she was fulfilling the Law of the Camp Fire, which is to "Seek beauty Sahwah slept again after that and Gladys called all the girls together around the piano in the shack, where they stayed until supper time, singing softly under Gladys's direction.— The Camp Fire Girls in the Maine Woods Or, The Winnebagos Go Camping
It also imperceptibly fostered sentiments confounding legality with grace, and the by-product of that subtle corrupting leaven which is apt to see a splint in the eye of another whilst unmindful of the beam in one's own Upon the whole, the religious status of the Boers may be fairly compared to that of the old American pilgrim fathers, only much less intolerant, fairly strict sabbatarians, and jealous in maintaining national and individual morality.— Origin of the Anglo-Boer War Revealed (2nd ed.) The Conspiracy of the 19th Century Unmasked
But the leaven was at work which was bound to cause a revolution in the tastes of fifty million people Most of our best moves are accidents, and every good thing begins as something else.— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 05 Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors

American Heritage Dictionary (1)
Century Dictionary (2)
Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year
Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed
You can expect to see this word about twice a month.
Recently looked upforsworn · abiogenesis · zephyr · Wordnik · disfunctional |
Recent Favoritespygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms |
Recent Pronunciationsthese grunts every eight hours · haul it off to our darkest dungeon · send for a doctor · forget what witticism you were originally going to insert here because you've just banged your knee on your desk · the rest will come naturally |