Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various unicellular fungi of the genus Saccharomyces, especially S. cerevisiae, reproducing by budding and from ascospores and capable of fermenting carbohydrates.
- n. Any of various similar fungi.
- n. Froth consisting of yeast cells together with the carbon dioxide they produce in the process of fermentation, present in or added to fruit juices and other substances in the production of alcoholic beverages.
- n. A powdered or compressed commercial preparation, having yeast cells and inert material such as meal and used chiefly as a leavening agent or as a dietary supplement.
- n. Foam; froth.
- n. An agent of ferment or activity: political agitators who are the yeast of revolution.
- v. To ferment.
- v. To froth or foam.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A yellowish substance, having an acid reaction, produced during the alcoholic fermentation of saccharine fluids, rising partly to the surface in the form of frothy, flocculent, viscid matter (top or surface yeast), and partly falling to the bottom (bottom or sediment yeast). Yeast consists of aggregations of minute cells, each cell constituting a distinct plant, Saccharomyces cerevisiæ. The yeast-plant is a saprophytic fungus of uncertain systematic position, being regarded by some as a degenerate ascomycete, by others as representing a distinct class. It exists under two conditions. In the first it is in the form of transparent round or oval cells, averaging .08 mm. (.003 inch) in diameter, which increase in countless numbers by budding—that is, by the formation of a small daughtercell by the side of the mother-cell, from which it sooner or later separates. The other form consists of larger cells, which, by a division of their protoplasm, form four new cells within the parent-cell. These endogenously formed cells have been likened to the ascospores of the Ascomycetes, with which, as stated above, they are frequently classed. The former notion that the yeast-plant was only the immature condition of a mold has been effectually exploded by Brefeld's elaborate researches. Fermentation takes place sooner and goes on more rapidly when yeast is added than when the fluid is merely exposed to the atmosphere, beer-yeast possessing the property of setting up fermentation in the highest degree. Surface yeast is formed at from 65° to 77° F., and its action is rapid and irregular, whereas sediment yeast is formed at from 32° to 45°, and its action is slow and quiet. Sediment yeast is reproduced by spores, and not by buds. In their chemical relations the two do not appear to differ. Yeast varies in quality according to the nature of the liquid in which it is generated, and yeastmerchants distinguish several varieties, which are employed for different purposes according to their energy and activity. Yeast is employed to induce fermentation in the manufacture of beer and ale, and of distilled spirits, and is also the agent in producing the panary fermentation, whereby bread is rendered light, porous, and spongy. Beer-yeast is employed medicinally as a stimulant in low fevers, and is of great service in cases where, from inflammatory symptoms, wine is inadmissible. See
barm , Saccharomyces, fermentation. - n. Spumc or foam of water; froth.
- To ferment.
Wiktionary
- n. An often humid, yellowish froth produced by fermenting malt worts, and used to brew beer, leaven bread, and also used in certain medicines.
- n. A type of single-celled fungus.
- n. A compressed cake or dried granules of this substance used for mixing with flour to make bread dough rise.
- n. figuratively A frothy foam.
- v. To ferment.
- v. To rise.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The foam, or troth (
top yeast ), or the sediment (bottom yeast ), of beer or other in fermentation, which contains the yeast plant or its spores, and under certain conditions produces fermentation in saccharine or farinaceous substances; a preparation used for raising dough for bread or cakes, and making it light and puffy; barm; ferment. - n. Spume, or foam, of water.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various single-celled fungi that reproduce asexually by budding or division
- n. a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey
Etymologies
- From Old English ġiest, from Proto-Germanic *jestuz. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English yeest, from Old English gist. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Their flavor become more intense and complex with the longer the yeast is allowed to develop.”
“Set aside for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast is activated and bubbly.”
“Just let me know what the name of the yeast is and where I might find it.”
“The microscopic plants which we call yeast are widely distributed in the air, and float around there until chance brings them in contact with a substance favorable to their growth, such as fruit juices and moist warm batter.”
“When the fermentation has gone on so long that the yeast begins to look brown, the beer should be tunned; that is, the yeast is removed, and the beer is put into the casks in which it is to remain; and, in general, the beer is not taken down into the cellar till at this period.”
The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
“All yeast is best purified before it is used; that is, the yeast should be put into a vessel, and, cold spring water being poured upon it, they should be stirred together and then left to settle.”
The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
“Its scientists have altered a pathway in yeast similar to one in plants and trees that makes smells and flavors.”
“The only time you even hear about yeast is if a winery is using naturally occurring yeasts to ferment a particular wine.”
“Put the yeast and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved.”
“But a packet of active dry yeast is roughly 2 1/2 teaspoons: which do you mean, a packet or 1 teaspoon?”
Jalapeno cheese bun recipe for a proper Texas burger | Homesick Texan
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘yeast’.
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Beer and Brewing
Words about beer and the making of it.
airlock, bung, carboy, diversol, hops, mashtun, beer, sparge, trub, wort, malt, malt liquor and 184 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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gists
words about central ideas and actions
gist, nub, sense, meat, core, essence, heart, crux, pith, marrow, kernel, quintessence and 35 more...
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Bread-related Words
Words related to bread and bread-making
barm, ferment, knead, couche, proof, gluten, rustic, brioche, semolina, durum, rye, yeast and 21 more...
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Instant List
Things that are instant.
noodles, messenger, coffee, approval, breakfast, camera, attraction, espresso, eye lift, facelift, film, gratification and 26 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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spoon
being items relating to food, cooking and the kitchen.
spoon, fork, beef, slice, dozen, eggs, simmer, broil, salad, soup, stock, lard and 287 more...
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Words I will probably never use
décolleté, pendragon, amerce, viviparous, dragoon, brigand, outlaw, outlawry, lugubrious, boor, contretemps, decrepit and 167 more...
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Ugliest Words Ever
words that I refuse to say out loud.
tuna, uranus, bulbous, vaginal, rectum, cunnilingus, flatulance, pedagogy, blooper, booger, beefy, polyp and 116 more...
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Conversations for the Ages
A list of words that have fascinating conversations on them. Or just, you know, really funny ones. If I missed any, I hope someone will let me know...
Also see a few other Wordizens' l...misuse, slough of despond, drinking problem, sausage fest, vergerhade, baromets, todal, googlewhack, quetzalcoatl, cheesewa, cheesois, absinthe and 187 more...
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Food
.
spaghetti, yogurt, muesli, rarebit, wheat, cream, cheese, pumpkin, custard, couscous, oats, sausage and 237 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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Nigella Bites
words from the cookbook "Nigella Bites" by Nigella Lawson
intend, evangelical, present, nattering space, inevitably, consequently, techniques, liqueur, purist, frankly, constraints, jot and 256 more...
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precious
coin, waiflike, zoo, captain, difference, diet, automagical, olive, noanoa, dusk, cookie, monday and 221 more...
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Words That Sound Dirty but Really Aren't
annals, assassinate, bisect, bubbly, caucus, caulk, colloquialism, concoct, condominium, congeal, congenital, convex and 131 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for yeast.

bilby Even has a Spoonerism punch line. Cute! Jun 22, 2008
dontcry This reminds me of the first poem I ever memorized:
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! --
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!
-E. Lear Jun 21, 2008
pterodactyl *laughs*
Oh, Asa, I like that one!
(Pro -- it's a play on words, based on the first line of a Rudyard Kipling poem. See here.) Jun 21, 2008
plethora *guffaws* Jun 21, 2008
Prolagus (trying to find the joke in the internet to get it)
((don't worry I'll find it))
(((sad because it will lose all its fun anyway))) Jun 21, 2008
chained_bear HA HA HAHA!!!! Jun 21, 2008
asativum A farmer was perplexed because birds kept building a nest in his horse's mane. The vet told him to sprinkle yeast in the horse's mane every morning for three days. It worked.
Surprised, the farmer asked the vet why. He answered that even a schoolchild should have been able to figure it out. "Everyone knows yeast is yeast, and nest is nest, and never the mane shall tweet." Jun 21, 2008