malt

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Grain, usually barley, that has been allowed to sprout, used chiefly in brewing and distilling.
2. n. An alcoholic beverage, such as beer or ale, brewed from malt.
3. n. See malted milk.
4. v. To process (grain) into malt.
5. v. To treat or mix with malt or a malt extract.
6. v. To become malt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Grain in which, by partial germination, arrested at the proper stage by heat, the starch is converted into saccharine matter (grape-sugar), the unfermented solution of the latter being the sweetwort of the brewer. By the addition of hops, and the subsequent processes of cooling, fermentation, and clarification, the wort is converted into porter, ale, or beer. The alcoholic fermentation of the wort, without the addition of hops, and distillation yield crude whisky. Barley is the grain most used for malting in the manufacture of beer; but wheat, rye. and other grains are largely malted for whisky. Barley yields about 92 per cent, of its weight of dried malt.
2. n. Liquor produced from malt, as ale, porter, or beer.
3. Pertaining to, containing, or made with malt.
4. To convert (grain) into malt. The steps in the process of malting are four: First, steeping in water from twenty-four to forty hours, by which the grain takes up from 10 to 30 per cent, of water, swells, and begins to germinate. Second, couching, in which the steeped grain Is piled in heaps on a floor, usually made of flagstones, and wherein the growth of the rootlets is aided by heat generated in the mass. Third, flooring, in which the germinating grain is spread upon a floor in charges called floors, and stirred to expose it to air, and in which the growth of the rootlets is checked and the germination of the acrospires is carried to the desired limit. Fourth, drying, in which the germination is completely arrested by heat in a malt-kiln. The maltster decides, from the length and appearance of the acrospires as to when the conversion of the starch has been carried to the right limit. The dried acrospires and the rootlets are broken off by handling in the kiln, and are removed by sifting. The chemical changes effected by the partial germination and subsequent treatment of the grain are chiefly the conversion of the azotized substances into diastase, the conversion of the starch into grape-sugar by the action of the diastase, and the imparting of color and flavor to the malt in the kiln. The malt is either pale or dark in color, according to the degree of heat and the length of time it is exposed to heat in the kiln; and a peculiar flavor is derived from empyreumatic oil generated in the husk.
5. To become malt; be converted into malt.
6. To drink malt liquor.
7. An obsolete preterit of melt.

Wiktionary

1. n. Malted grain (sprouted grain) (usually barley), used in brewing and otherwise.
2. n. Malt liquor, especially malt whisky.
3. n. US Short for "malted milk shake", a milkshake with malted milk powder added for flavor
4. n. Maltose-rich sugar derived from malted grain.
5. v. To convert a cereal grain into malt by causing it to sprout (by soaking in water) and then halting germination (by drying with hot air) in order to develop enzymes that can break down starches and proteins in the grain.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Barley or other grain, steeped in water and dried in a kiln, thus forcing germination until the saccharine principle has been evolved. It is used in brewing and in the distillation of whisky.
2. adj. Relating to, containing, or made with, malt.
3. v. To make into malt.
4. v. To become malt; also, to make grain into malt.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a lager of high alcohol content; by law it is considered too alcoholic to be sold as lager or beer
2. v. convert grain into malt
3. n. a cereal grain (usually barley) that is kiln-dried after having been germinated by soaking in water; used especially in brewing and distilling
4. v. convert into malt
5. n. a milkshake made with malt powder
6. v. turn into malt, become malt
7. v. treat with malt or malt extract