MUSHROOM


Meaning of MUSHROOM in English

I. ˈməˌshrü]m, -ru̇], chiefly dial ]n\ noun

( -s )

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English musseroun, muscheron, from Middle French mousseron, from Old French meisseron, from Late Latin mussirion-, mussirio

1.

a.

(1) : any of various enlarged complex aerial fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi (as most members of the class Basidiomycetes) that are technically sporophores, arise from an underground mycelium, and consist typically of a stem bearing a flattened pileus with spores developing in the folds or pores of a hymenium on its undersurface

(2) : such a fruiting body that is edible ; especially : meadow mushroom — compare toadstool

b. : fungus 1

2. archaic : upstart 1

3. slang : umbrella

4. : a woman's low-crowned hat with a convex brim

5.

a. : mushroom anchor

b. : the head of a mushroom anchor without the shank

6. : a metal traffic guide about 18 inches in diameter fixed in the pavement surface at an intersection

7. : a bullet with a soft or hollow point that flattens on impact

8. : an obturator for a cannon

9. : a lateral and radial extension of reinforcing rods into the slab at the top of each column in a system of reinforced-concrete construction permitting the weight of the floors to be borne by the columns rather than by external walls

10. : a spreading cloud (as of smoke or debris)

mushroom of exploding five-inch shells — K.M.Dodson

radioactive mushroom from an atom-bomb explosion

the stem of the mushroom caused by the intense heat sucking up … debris — E.P.Boland

11. : beaver 6

II. verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

intransitive verb

1. : to spring up suddenly or multiply rapidly

towns … mushroomed about factories near water power — R.H.Brown

accidents mushroomed so prodigiously … that it was evident some basic factor had been overlooked — Stanley Frank

— often used with up

stools and benches decorated with her handiwork had mushroomed up all over the house — Virginia D. Dawson & Betty D. Wilson

2.

a. : to flatten at the end due to impact — used especially of a bullet

bullets mushroomed well, so the animal did not go far — W.Z.Bradley

b. : to puff out or spread

the cloud of radioactive ash … mushrooms from the bomb — Newsweek

the homely aroma … came mushrooming over us — William Sansom

especially : to well up and spread out laterally from a central source

the fire was mushrooming under the ceiling when fire fighters … arrived — Springfield (Massachusetts) Union

c. : to become enlarged or extended : expand , grow

appetites mushroom on the trail — Joyce R. Muench

from a sleepy little rural community … it has mushroomed into a fast-growing center — Martha Alexander

the vast mushrooming of air travel — Fortune

d. : explode

an enemy plane … mushrooms in your gunsight — R.L.Scott

3. : to gather mushrooms

transitive verb

1. : to cause to spread or flatten out

hammering can … mushroom the end of the handle — H.D.Burghardt & Aaron Axelrod

2. : to cause to extend or multiply suddenly or rapidly : expand

a city swollen with a mushroomed population — Earl Brown

mushroomed his interests over three quarters of the U.S. — Time

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.