mushroom

plural mushrooms

1. 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 whereas others are poisonous, and sometimes they are difficult to tell apart.

   1 more example

   Arabs consider the eating of mushrooms as an aphrodisiac aid.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 159

   Synonyms: shroom, mushrump

2. A fungus producing such fruiting bodies.
3. Champignon or Agaricus bisporus, the mushroom species most commonly used in cooking.
4. Any of the mushroom-shaped pegs in bar billiards.
5. architectureA concrete column with a thickened portion at the top, used to support a slab.
6. figurativelyobsoleteOne who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart.

   upstarts […]call in reproach mushrooms

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

7. figurativelySomething 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.

   1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 129

8. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of mushroom cloud.

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

   mushroom cloud

present singular third person mushrooms · participle present mushrooming · participle past mushroomed · past mushroomed

1. figurativelyintransitiveTo 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.

   3 more examples

   In Beilu Village of Liucun Town in Yaodu District, Linfen, abnormal illnesses continued to emerge, as a result of clusters of highly-polluting enterprises mushrooming in the vicinity.

   2009, Zhang Yulin, “China's War on its Environment and Farmers' Rights: A Study of Shanxi Province”, in Confronting Discrimination and Inequality in China: Chinese and Canadian Perspectives, University of Ottawa Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 166

   The world's population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, a super-elite with assets of at least $30m, has now mushroomed beyond 250,000 people, all in need of somewhere to store their wealth.

   2019 June 1, Oliver Wainwright, “Super-tall, super-skinny, super-expensive: the ‘pencil towers’ of New York’s super-rich”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2020

   It has its own global news gathering and sharing platforms, like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. […] In recent years, all these platforms have mushroomed.

   2021 February 10, Thomas L. Friedman, “Cyberspace Plus Trump Almost Killed Our Democracy. Can Europe Save Us?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

2. intransitiveTo gather mushrooms.

   We used to go mushrooming in the forest every weekend.

3. intransitiveTo form the shape of a mushroom.

   Excessive spot weld time may cause the electrode tips to mushroom, resulting in no focus of current and a weak weld.

   2001, James E. Duffy, I-Car Professional Automotive Collision Repair, page 173

   1. intransitiveballisticsTo form the shape of a mushroom when striking a soft target.