From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mushroom \Mush"room\, noun [OE. muscheron, OF. mouscheron, F. mousseron; perhaps fr. mousse moss, of German origin. See {Moss}.]
1. (Bot.) (a) 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. (b) Any large fungus developing a visible fruiting body with a stem and cap, usu. of the basidiomycetes; especially one of the genus {Agaricus}; a toadstool. Several species are edible; but many are very poisonous. The term mushroom is used most often for edible varieties, the poisonous ones being termed {toadstools} or other names. But this distinction is often ignored. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. One who rises suddenly from a low condition in life; an upstart. --Bacon.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
mushroom \mush"room\, verb (used without an object)
1. to grow or expand rapidly. [PJC]
2. 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]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mushroom \Mush"room\, adjective
1. Of or pertaining to mushrooms; as, mushroom catchup.
2. Resembling mushrooms in rapidity of growth and shortness of duration; short-lived; ephemerial; as, mushroom cities.
{Mushroom anchor}, an anchor shaped like a mushroom, capable of grasping the ground in whatever way it falls.
{Mushroom coral} (Zo["o]l.), 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. [1913 Webster +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: common name for an edible agaric (contrasting with the inedible toadstool) [ant: {toadstool}]
2: any of various fleshy fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota consisting of a cap at the end of a stem arising from an underground mycelium
3: a large cloud of rubble and dust shaped like a mushroom and rising into the sky after an explosion (especially of a nuclear bomb) [syn: {mushroom cloud}, {mushroom-shaped cloud}]
4: fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi
verb
1: pick or gather mushrooms; "We went mushrooming in the Fall"
2: grow and spread fast; "The problem mushroomed"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
106 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
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