(1):

(v. t.) To cherish with heat; to foster.

(2):

(v. t.) To nurse to life or activity; to cherish and promote by excitements; to encourage; to abet; to instigate; - used often in a bad sense; as, to foment ill humors.

(3):

(v. t.) To apply a warm lotion to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge wet with warm water or medicated liquid.

(4):

(n.) Fomentation.

(5):

(n.) State of excitation; - perh. confused with ferment.