Definition of "fermenter" [fer•ment•er]

• An organism that causes fermentation. (noun)
• An apparatus that maintains optimal conditions for the growth of microorganisms, used in large-scale fermentation and in the commercial production of antibiotics and hormones. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The bug can be grown on agar plates a kind of petri dish, in flasks or in a larger vessel known as a fermenter."
• "Yes it's not absolutely out of the question, but people should understand that you can grow simple anthrax in a kind of fermenter -- the same thing that you -- someone once said, you know, like home brewed beer, fermenter that you'd buy at Home Depot - something like that."
• "Today one can threaten a whole society with a flask carrying pathogens created in a fermenter in a hidden garage -- and without detectable signature."