mushroom

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   grow and spread fast

   The problem mushroomed

2. 2
   verb

   pick or gather mushrooms

   We went mushrooming in the Fall

3. 3
   noun

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

   Some mushrooms are edible and taste good, while others are poisonous and taste foul.

4. 4
   noun

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

   upstarts […]call in reproach mushrooms

5. 5
   noun

   Something that grows very quickly or seems to appear suddenly.

   The craze [hula hoops] began in the U.S.A., and in October the boom crossed the Atlantic and 40 firms sprang into being, some being overnight mushrooms.

6. 6
   adj

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

   mushroom cloud

7. 7
   verb

   To grow quickly to a large size or rapidly increase in scope or scale.

   The town’s population mushroomed from 10,000 to 110,000 in five years.

8. 8
   verb

   To gather mushrooms.

   We used to go mushrooming in the forest every weekend.

Etymology

From Middle English muscheron, musseron, from Anglo-Norman musherum, moscheron, from Old French moisseron, of obscure origin: probably derived from Old French mosse, moise ("moss"; whence also French mousse), as the use first applied to a type of fungus which grows in moss, from Frankish *mosu (“moss”) or Old Dutch *mosa (“moss”), akin to Old High German mosa (“moor, swamp”), Old High German mos (“moss, bog”), Old High German mios (“moss, mire”), Old English mēos (“moss”), Old English mōs (“bog, marsh”), Old Norse mosi (“moss”), Old Norse myrr (“bog, mire”), from Proto-Germanic *musą, *musô, *…