mushroom

Meanings

Noun

• 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.

Adjective

• Having characteristics like those of a mushroom, for example in shape or appearance, speed of growth, or texture.

Verb

• To grow quickly to a large size.
• To gather mushrooms.
• To form the shape of a mushroom.

Origin

• From Middle English muscheron, musseron, from Anglo-Norman musherum, moscheron, from Old French moisseron, of obscure origin: probably derived from Old French mosse, moise, as the use first applied to a type of fungus which grows in moss, from Frankish *mosa or Old Dutch mosa, akin to Old High German mos, Old High German mios, Old English mēos, Old English mōs, Old Norse mosi, Old Norse myrr, from Proto-Germanic *musą, *musô, *miuziz, from Proto-Indo-European *mews-. Displaced native . More at mire. Alternatively, the Old French may be of pre-Roman origin. See Ancient Greek μύκης ("mushroom").