FOMENT', v.t. [L. fomento, from foveo, to warm.]
1. To apply warm lotions to; to bathe with warm medicated liquors, or with flannel dipped in warm water.
2. To cherish with heat; to encourage growth. [Not usual.]
3. To encourage; to abet; to cherish and promote by excitements; in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors.
So we say, to foment troubles or disturbances; to foment intestine broils.
