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/lˈɛvən/ Listen

verb

Leaven v. t. (past & past part. leavened; pres. part. leavening)

To make light by the action of leaven; to cause to ferment. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

To imbue; to infect; to vitiate. "With these and the like deceivable doctrines, he leavens also his prayer."

noun

Leaven n.

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.

Anything which makes a general assimilating (especially a corrupting) change in the mass. "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."

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Etymology of 'Leaven'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Leaven" Quotes from Famous Books

... writes, 'to undeceive the world by unravelling that whole mystery of iniquity' (p. 5). He lays bare roguery enough, and in a spirit, it seems, of real sorrow. Nevertheless there are passages which are not free from the leaven of hypocrisy, and there are, I suspect, statements which are at least partly false. Johnson, indeed, looked upon him as little less than a saint; but then, as Sir Joshua Reynolds tells us, though ...

— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 3 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill

... despair He set the sun of love to triumph there. Things foul or frail his touch made strong and pure, And bade things transient like to stars endure. Terror, on wings whose flight made night in heaven, Pity, with hands whence life took love for leaven, Breathed round him music whence his mortal breath Drew life that bade forgetfulness and death Die: life that bids his light of fiery fame Endure with England's, ...

— A Channel Passage and Other Poems - Taken from The Collected Poetical Works of Algernon Charles - Swinburne--Vol VI • Algernon Charles Swinburne

... not seen the review of my little book of speeches [Footnote: The American Spirit.] made by the Daily Mail until you sent it to me. I guess we are a nation of idealists and it won't do any harm to have a little of this leaven thrown into the European lump. I am amused when I read the reviews on this book to see myself regarded as the rather imaginative interpreter of the national attitude, after these twenty years of quiet, stiff legal opinions on municipal law ...

— The Letters of Franklin K. Lane • Franklin K. Lane

... quarrelling with some of my old friends, and I grew eager to see fresh places, fresh faces. I turned it over in my mind, and I thought that if Quebec fell into our hands, English-speaking citizens would surely be wanted to leaven the French and Canadians who would remain. And if so, why should not I be one to take ...

— French and English - A Story of the Struggle in America • Evelyn Everett-Green

... told you that all was well; at least I trust it will be, though it may not seem so now. The leaven is working; leave it to Time. Above all, don't meddle; ask no questions; leave the matter to those who ...

— A Pessimist - In Theory and Practice • Robert Timsol

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