[grow] vb grew ; grown ; grow.ing [ME, fr. OE growan; akin to OHG gruowan to grow] vi (bef. 12c) 1 a: to spring up and develop to maturity b: to be able to grow in some place or situation "trees that ~ in the tropics" c: to assume some relation through or as if through a process of natural growth "ferns ~ing from the rocks"
2. a: to increase in size by assimilation of material into the living organism or by accretion of material in a nonbiological process (as crystallization) b: increase, expand "~s in wisdom"
3: to develop from a parent source "the book grew out of a series of lectures"
4. a: to pass into a condition: become "grew pale" b: to have an increasing influence "habit ~s on a person" c: to become increasingly acceptable or attractive "didn't like it at first, but it grew on him" ~ vt 1: to cause to grow "~ wheat"
2: develop
5. -- grow.er n -- grow.ing.ly adv