[Ads-l] to foment

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Feb 4 12:52:36 UTC 2021


OED marks a somewhat similar sense (def 2) as "Obsolete": 'To promote the
growth or development of (something physical or physiological).'

Here it seems to mean 'to bring into existence; form':

2009 Caroline Alexander _The War that Killed Achilles_  (N.Y.: Viking) 26:
The murky realm of mythology and folklore from which the Iliad was fomented.

Alexander has been a Mellon Fellow and has recently translated the Iliad.

JL

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list