Barm vs Marm - What's the difference?
barm | marm |
(obsolete except in dialects) Bosom, lap.
* Late 14th century': And with that word this faucon gan to crie / And swowned eft in Canacees '''barm . — Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Squire's Tale’, ''Canterbury Tales
Foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast.
* 1882 , James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , Volume 4, p. 620:
* 1913 , DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers , Penguin 2006, p. 65:
A small, flat, round individual loaf or roll of bread.
As nouns the difference between barm and marm
is that barm is (obsolete except in dialects) bosom, lap or barm can be foam rising upon beer, or other malt liquors, when fermenting, and used as leaven in making bread and in brewing; yeast while marm is (archaic) madam; a polite term of address for a lady.barm
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) bearm .Noun
(en noun)Etymology 2
From (etyl) beorma''; related to the dialectal (Low) German ''Bärm'' ("yeast"), from Middle Low German ''barm'', ''berm''. The cake sense is possibly a shortened form of barmcake, which would be made with yeast as described in that sense, or possibly it is from the (etyl) '' , a type of cake.Noun
- (Shakespeare)
- In 1577 yeast, called barm , is bought at 9d. the pail.
- And he chaffed the women as he served them their ha'porths of barm .
