Forms: 1 wyrt, 5 wirt; 4– wort, 4–7 worte (5 wortte), 4 wourt, 5 wurt(e, 5–7 woort (6 woorte). [OE. wyrt OS. wurtja spicery, (MHG. and G. würze, spice, brewer’s wort), f. the stem wurt-; cf. wyrt WORT sb.1]
1. The infusion of malt or other grain that after fermentation becomes beer (or may be used for the distillation of spirits), unfermented beer. † Of beer: (to be) in wort, still unfermented. (See also SWEET-WORT.)
c. 1000. Ags. Leechd., II. 268. Bewylle þone þriddan dæl on hwætene wyrt.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 158. Fro wort to ale.
a. 1387. Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 16. Ciromellum, worte.
c. 1450. Two Cookery-bks., II. 107. Seth hem [sc. quinces] in goode wort til þey be soft.
1492. Acta Dom. Concil. (1839), 243/1. Þe spoliatioun … of … half a chalder of malt in ail and wort.
1574. R. Scot, Hop Garden (1578), 54. In the first Woorte … there goeth out of these Hoppes almost no vertue at all.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 233. Nay then two treyes, an if you grow so nice Methegline, Wort, and Malmsey.
1602. Rowlands, Greenes Ghost, 8. They put in willowe leaues and broome buds into their woort in steed of hoppes.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 385. It were good also to try the Beere, when it is in Wort, that it may be seene, whether [etc.].
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1699), I. 314. This in 2 hours time will ferment and froth like Wort.
1731. P. Shaw, Three Ess. Artif. Philos., 65. When a parcel of Wort, brewed in the common manner, is become fine by standing.
1738. Gentl. Mag., VIII. 140/1. An eighth Part of the Wort evaporated in three Hours boiling.
1837. Penny Cycl., IX. 24/1. By the excise rules, 100 gallons of such wort ought to yield one gallon of proof spirit for every five degrees of attenuation.
1868. Spencer, Princ. Psych., VI. vii. (1872), II. 71. Fermenting wort gives out carbonic acid.
1880. Act 43 & 44 Vict., c. 24 § 5 (1). No person may, without being licensed … Brew or make wort or wash.
† b. Sc. To play wort: to work or stir the mash in the brewing vessel. Obs.
1644. Markinch Kirk Sess. Rec., 10 Jan. The collecteres … delateth that Alexr Greig his wyff & his woman wer playing wort. Ibid., 12 May. James Robertson … denyed that thair was any wort played in his hous the fasting Wednesday.
† c. fig. To cast in one’s worts that, etc.: to give one something to meditate upon or consider. Obs.
1539. Cromwell, Lett. to Hen. VIII., 5 Feb. (1902), II. 176. And yet further I casted in his worttes that if they wold regarde them [sc. the Pope’s censures] your highnes was and shuld be hable … to defende … yourself … and that … they shuld not fynde your grace unfournished of all thinges expedient.
2. An infusion or decoction of malt formerly used in treatment of ulcers, of scurvy, and other diseases.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 717/2. This medicine will do much better in a strong Decoction of Ground Malt, Anglice Wort.
1766. in Macbride, Th. & Pract. Physic (1772), 642. The first day he took the wort, he had the following scorbutic symptoms.
1770. Rush, in Med. Observ. (1772), IV. 367. An Account of the Usefulness of Wort in some ill-conditioned Ulcers.
3. attrib. and Comb., chiefly in names of utensils and materials used in brewing, as † wort-cake, -condenser, -cooler, copper, † dish, † -fat, filter, † -lead, -refrigerator, † -stone, † -trough, tub, tun; also worts-receiver.
1795. Sir J. Dalrymple, Lett. to Admiralty, 3. My Yeast-powder … to set the first parcel of *Wort-cakes in fermentation.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wort-condenser, one for condensing the vapor which rises from the wort in the process of boiling. Ibid., *Wort-cooler, usually a shallow vat of large area, in which the infusion of malt is placed to cool.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 406/2. The consumption of fuel was much more considerable in the immense grate under the *wort copper.
1747. in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874), 80. In the brewhouse … a *wort dish, sixpence.
1367. Priory of Finchale (Surtees), p. lxxviii. iiij gilfatts sive *wourtfatts.
1583. Rec. Elgin (New Spald. Club, 1903), I. 172. Ane masking fatt, ane wortfatt.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wort-filter, one for extracting the clear liquor from the boiled mash.
1420. Inventory, in Lincoln Chapter Acc. Bk., A. 2. 30. f. 69. 2 *wortleddes.
a. 1550. in Strutt, Horda (1776), III. 65. Item 6 wort leeds, callyd coolars.
1893. Nettleton, Manuf. Spirit, 103. They drain by several pipes … into a *woris-receiver.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Wort-refrigerator, an apparatus for cooling wort after boiling with hops and previous to fermentation.
1529. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. (1883), 178. A mask fat, a *wort stane.
1542. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 30. A browyn leed … a maskefatt,… and a wortston.
1485. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees), 371. j *wort trogh de lapide.
1660. Melrose Regality Rec. (S.H.S.), I. 295. Ane woorttroch.
1580. Reg. Privy Council Scot., III. 320. Foure gyle fattis and ane *wort tube.
1635. Toke (Kent) Estate Accts. (MS.), fol. 178. The great *worte tunne in bruhouse.
