Link Centre Dictionary

mushroom

mush·room

UK/ˈmʌʃˌɹuːm/ US/-ˌɹʊm/ fairly common
noun (4) verb (2)

noun

1.
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.
4.

verb

1.

pick or gather mushrooms

  • “We went mushrooming in the Fall”
2.

grow and spread fast

  • “The problem mushroomed”

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 ("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.

Phrases

  • beefsteak mushroom
  • brain mushroom
  • button mushroom
  • Caesar's mushroom
  • cauliflower mushroom
  • chicken mushroom
  • Chinese mushroom
  • darning mushroom

Related words

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.