Lexic.us

Definition of Mushroom

1. Verb. Pick or gather mushrooms. "In the summer they like to go out and mushroom"; "We went mushrooming in the Fall"

2. Noun. Common name for an edible agaric (contrasting with the inedible toadstool).

3. Verb. Grow and spread fast. "The problem mushroomed"

4. Noun. Mushrooms and related fleshy fungi (including toadstools, puffballs, morels, coral fungi, etc.).

5. 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.

6. 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).

7. Noun. Fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi.

Definition of Mushroom

1. n. 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.

2. a. Of or pertaining to mushrooms; as, mushroom catchup.

Definition of Mushroom

1. Noun. Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood). ¹

2. Noun. A fungus producing such fruiting bodies. ¹

3. Noun. champignon or ''Agaricus bisporus'', the mushroom species most commonly used in cooking. ¹

4. Adjective. Containing or being made of '''mushrooms'''. ¹

5. Adjective. Resembling a mushroom by shape or appearance. ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive) To grow quickly to a large size. ¹

7. Verb. To gather '''mushrooms'''. ¹

8. Verb. (context: ballistics) (Of a bullet) To form the shape of a mushroom when a bullet impacts a soft target. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Mushroom

1. to grow or spread rapidly [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Mushroom

1. 1. 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-coloured, 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. 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. Origin: OE. Muscheron, OF. Mouscheron, F. Mousseron; perhaps fr. Mousse moss, of German origin. See Moss. 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, any coral of the genus Fungia. See Fungia. Mushroom spawn, 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. Mushroom v. To grow or expand rapidly. Mushroom into to grow so much and so rapidly as to change qualitatively Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mushroom

musher mushers mushes mushier mushiest mushily mushiness mushinesses mushing mushistonite

mushlike mushmouth mushmouths mushrat mushrats mushroom (current term) mushroom-headed mushroom-shaped cloud mushroom-worker's lung mushroom anchor

mushroom bodies mushroom body mushroom cloud mushroom clouds mushroom coral mushroom party mushroom pimple mushroom poisoning mushroom sauce mushroom wine sauce

Literary usage of Mushroom

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year (1887)
"The conditions under which fertility and increase in cellular tissue will take place even to fructification (this latter being the button of the mushroom), ..."

2. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: “a” Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature edited by Hugh Chisholm (1911)
"mushroom.1 There are few more useful, more easily recognized, or more delicious ... A true mushroom is never large in size; its cap very seldom exceeds 4, ..."

3. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"A species, described by Berkeley and Broome as distinct from both the Pasture mushroom and Horse mushroom, has been published under the name of A. ..."

4. The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by Charles Anderson Dana (1875)
"In this place are enumerated the principal species which have received the name of mushroom, ind are common to both England and the United States. ..."

5. Studies of American Fungi: Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, Etc by George Francis Atkinson (1900)
"DEVELOPMENT OF THE mushroom. When the stems of the mushrooms are pulled or dug from the ground, white strands are often clinging to the lower end. ..."

6. The Edinburgh Review by Sydney Smith (1869)
"Mrs. Hussey reports well of the oyster-fungus, and a Herefordshire gardener, we are told, has recently tested the excellence of this mushroom in the ..."

Other Resources: