pullulate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   formal: to multiply, breed, or increase rapidly and abundantly

   New workshops began to pullulate around the expanding port.

2. 2
   verb

   formal: to swarm, teem, or move in great numbers

   At dusk, the square seemed to pullulate with visitors.

3. 3
   verb

   botany, rare: to put out buds or shoots; to germinate

   After the first rain, dormant plants began to pullulate across the hillside.

From Latin pullulare, 'to sprout or breed abundantly,' from pullulus, 'a young animal or small sprout,' the diminutive of pullus, 'young animal, chick.' The image of abundant young or shoots produced the later sense 'to teem or proliferate.'

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