mushroom
Meanings
- Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood).
- A fungus producing such fruiting bodies.
- Champignon or Agaricus bisporus, the mushroom species most commonly used in cooking.
- Any of the mushroom-shaped pegs in bar billiards.
- A concrete column with a thickened portion at the top, used to support a slab.
- One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart.
- Something that grows very quickly or seems to appear suddenly.
- Ellipsis of mushroom cloud.
- Having characteristics like those of a mushroom, for example in shape or appearance, speed of growth, or texture.
- To grow quickly to a large size or rapidly increase in scope or scale.
- To gather mushrooms.
- To form the shape of a mushroom.
- To form the shape of a mushroom when striking a soft target.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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, *miuziz (“mosses, bog”), from Proto-Indo-European *mews- (“mosses, mold, mildew”). Displaced native Old English swamm. More at mire. Alternatively, the Old French may be of pre-Roman origin. See Ancient Greek μύκης (múkēs, “mushroom”). Doublet of moss and mousse.