MUSHROOM

mushroom

(noun) fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi

mushroom, mushroom cloud, mushroom-shaped cloud

(noun) a large cloud of rubble and dust shaped like a mushroom and rising into the sky after an explosion (especially of a nuclear bomb)

mushroom

(noun) any of various fleshy fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota consisting of a cap at the end of a stem arising from an underground mycelium

mushroom

(noun) mushrooms and related fleshy fungi (including toadstools, puffballs, morels, coral fungi, etc.)

mushroom

(noun) common name for an edible agaric (contrasting with the inedible toadstool)

mushroom

(verb) grow and spread fast; “The problem mushroomed”

mushroom

(verb) pick or gather mushrooms; “We went mushrooming in the Fall”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

mushroom (plural mushrooms)

Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood).

Synonyms: mushrump (archaic), shroom

A fungus producing such fruiting bodies.

Champignon or Agaricus bisporus, the mushroom species most commonly used in cooking.

Any of the mushroom-shaped pegs in bar billiards.

(architecture) A concrete column with a thickened portion at the top, used to support a slab.

(obsolete, figurative) One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart.

(figurative) Something that grows very quickly or seems to appear suddenly.

Adjective

mushroom (not comparable)

Having characteristics like those of a mushroom, for example in shape or appearance, speed of growth, or texture.

Verb

mushroom (third-person singular simple present mushrooms, present participle mushrooming, simple past and past participle mushroomed)

(intransitive) To grow quickly to a large size.

To gather mushrooms.

To form the shape of a mushroom.

(ballistics, of a bullet) To form the shape of a mushroom when striking a soft target.

Source: Wiktionary

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Mush"room, n. Etym: [OE. muscheron, OF. mouscheron, F. mousseron; perhaps fr. mousse moss, of German origin. See Moss.]

1. (Bot.) (a) An edible fungus (Agaricus campestris), having a white stalk which bears a convex or oven flattish expanded portion called the pileus. This is whitish and silky or somewhat scaly above, and bears on the under side radiating gills which are at first flesh-colored, but gradually become brown. The plant grows in rich pastures and is proverbial for rapidity of growth and shortness of duration. It has a pleasant smell, and is largely used as food. It is also cultivated from spawn. (b) Any large fungus, especially one of the genus Agaricus; a toadstool. Several species are edible; but many are very poisonous.

2. One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart. Bacon.

Mush"room, a.

1. Of or pertaining to mushrooms; as, mushroom catchup.

2. Resembling mushrooms in rapidity of growth and shortness of duration; short-lived; ephemerial; as, mushroom cities. Mushroom anchor, an anchor shaped like a mushroom, capable of grasping the ground in whatever way it falls.

– Mushroom coral (Zoöl.), any coral of the genus Fungia. See Fungia.

– Mushroom spawn (Bot.), the mycelium, or primary filamentous growth, of the mushroom; also, cakes of earth and manure containing this growth, which are used for propagation of the mushroom.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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