mushroom

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: mush=room

CIDE DICTIONARY

mushroom, n. [OE. muscheron, OF. mouscheron, F. mousseron; perhaps fr. mousse moss, of German origin. See Moss.].

•  An edible fungus (Agaricus campestris), having a white stalk which bears a convex or oven flattish expanded portion called the pileus. This is whitish and silky or somewhat scaly above, and bears on the under side radiating gills which are at first flesh-colored, but gradually become brown. The plant grows in rich pastures and is proverbial for rapidity of growth and shortness of duration. It has a pleasant smell, and is largely used as food. It is also cultivated from spawn.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

mushroom, a. 

•  Of or pertaining to mushrooms; as, mushroom catchup.  [1913 Webster]
•  Resembling mushrooms in rapidity of growth and shortness of duration; short-lived; ephemerial; as, mushroom cities.  [1913 Webster]

Mushroom anchor, an anchor shaped like a mushroom, capable of grasping the ground in whatever way it falls. -- Mushroom coral (Zoöl.), any coral of the genus Fungia. See Fungia. -- Mushroom spawn (Bot.), the mycelium, or primary filamentous growth, of the mushroom; also, cakes of earth and manure containing this growth, which are used for propagation of the mushroom. -- mushroom cloud, a cloud of smoke rising and then spreading laterally to take on the shape of a mushroom -- caused by large fires or explosions, esp. nuclear explosions.

mushroom, v. i. 

•  to grow or expand rapidly.  [PJC]
•  to grow so much and so rapidly as to change qualitatively; used with into; as, a minor border skirmish mushroomed into a full-blown war.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mushroom, n. & v.
--n.
1 the usu. edible spore-producing body of various fungi, esp. Agaricus campestris, with a stem and domed cap, proverbial for its rapid growth.
2 the pinkish-brown colour of this.
3 any item resembling a mushroom in shape (darning mushroom).
4 (usu. attrib.) something that appears or develops suddenly or is ephemeral; an upstart.
--v.intr.
1 appear or develop rapidly.
2 expand and flatten like a mushroom cap.
3 gather mushrooms.

Idiom

mushroom cloud a cloud suggesting the shape of a mushroom, esp. from a nuclear explosion. mushroom growth 1 a sudden development or expansion.
2 anything undergoing this.

Derivative

mushroomy adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF mousseron f. LL mussirio -onis

THESAURUS

mushroom

Ectocarpales, Phaeophyceae, algae, autophyte, ball, balloon, bead, bean, blossom, blow up, bracken, brew, brown algae, burgeon, burst, climber, conferva, confervoid, conglobulate, creeper, detonate, develop, diatom, fern, flourish, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungi, fungus, gather, germinate, globe, go off, grapevine, green algae, grow, grow up, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, hypertrophy, increase, ivy, kelp, legume, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mature, mold, molds, moss, newly-rich, nouveau-riche, outgrow, overdevelop, overgrow, overtop, parasite, parasitic plant, parvenu, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, procreate, puffball, pullulate, pulse, red algae, reproduce, rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, shoot up, smut, snowball, sphere, spherify, spring up, sprout, sprout up, succulent, thallogens, thrive, toadstool, tower, upshoot, upspear, upspring, upsprout, upstart, vegetate, vetch, vine, wax, wort, wrack

ROGET THESAURUS

mushroom

Prosperity

N prosperity, welfare, well-being, affluence, success, thrift, roaring trade, good fortune, smiles of fortune, blessings, godsend, luck, good luck, run of luck, sunshine, fair weather, fair wind, palmy days, bright days, halcyon days, piping times, tide, flood, high tide, Saturnia regna, Saturnian age, golden time, golden age, bed of roses, fat city, fat of the land, milk and honey, loaves and fishes, made man, lucky dog, enfant gate, spoiled child of fortune, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, mushroom, prosperous, thriving, in a fair way, buoyant, well off, well to do, well to do in the world, set up, at one's ease, rich, in good case, in full, in high feather, fortunate, lucky, in luck, born with a silver spoon in one's mouth, born under a lucky star, on the sunny side of the hedge, auspicious, propitious, providential, palmy, halcyon, agreeable, couleur de rose, prosperously, swimmingly, as good luck would have it, beyond all hope, one's star in the ascendant, all for the best, one's course runs smooth, chacun est l'artisan de sa fortune, donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos, felicitas multos habet amicos, felix se nescit amari, good luck go with thee, nulli est homini perpetuum bonum.

Newness

N newness, novelty, recency, immaturity, youth, gloss of novelty, innovation, renovation, modernism, mushroom, parvenu, latest fashion, new, novel, recent, fresh, green, young, evergreen, raw, immature, unsettled, yeasty, virgin, untried, unhandseled, untrodden, untrod, unbeaten, fire-new, span-new, late, modern, neoteric, hypermodern, nouveau, new-born, nascent, neonatal, new-fashioned, new-fangled, new-fledged, of yesterday, just out, brand-new, up to date, up to the minute, with it, fashionable, in fashion, in, hip, vernal, renovated, sempervirent, sempervirid, fresh as a rose, fresh as a daisy, fresh as paint, spick and span, newly, afresh, anew, lately, just now, only yesterday, the other day, latterly, of late, not long ago, a short time ago, di novello tutto par bello, nullum est jam dictum quod non dictum est prius, una scopa nuova spazza bene.

Commonalty

N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet, commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.