Foment

1. To apply a warm lotion to; to bathe with a cloth or sponge wet with warm water or medicated liquid.
2. To cherish with heat; to foster.
3. 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.

1. Fomentation.
2. State of excitation; -- perh. confused with ferment.