mushroom

/ˈmʌʃrum/

/ˈmʌʃrum/

Other forms: mushrooms; mushroomed; mushrooming

A mushroom is the main body of a certain type of fungus. Edible mushrooms include portobellos and shiitakes. Don't mess around with the inedible types.

Walk in the woods after a few days of rain, and you're sure to see mushrooms growing from the damp forest floor. Mushrooms like moist environments, and many mushrooms also grow incredibly fast, which is where the verb form of mushroom, "grow and spread quickly," comes from. The word's origin is ultimately uncertain, although some experts believe it's related to the French mousse, or "moss."

Definitions of mushroom

1. noun

   mushrooms and related fleshy fungi (including toadstools, puffballs, morels, coral fungi, etc.)
   type of:

   agaric

   a saprophytic fungus of the order Agaricales having an umbrellalike cap with gills on the underside
2. noun

   any of various fleshy fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota consisting of a cap at the end of a stem arising from an underground mycelium
   types:

   morel

   any of various edible mushrooms of the genus Morchella having a brownish spongelike cap

   Morchella esculenta, common morel, sponge morel, sponge mushroom

   an edible and choice morel with a globular to elongate head with an irregular pattern of pits and ridges

   Disciotis venosa, cup morel

   an edible morel with a cup-shaped or saucer-shaped fruiting body can be up to 20 cm wide; the fertile surface inside the cup has wrinkles radiating from the center; can be easily confused with inedible mushrooms

   Verpa, bell morel

   a morel whose fertile portion resembles a bell and is attached to the stipe only at the top

   Morchella angusticeps, Morchella conica, black morel, conic morel, narrowhead morel

   a morel whose pitted fertile body is attached to the stalk with little free skirt around it; the fertile body is grey when young and black in old age

   Morchella crassipes, thick-footed morel

   a delicious morel with a conic fertile portion having deep and irregular pits

   Morchella semilibera, cow's head, half-free morel

   a morel with the ridged and pitted fertile portion attached to the stipe for about half its length

   type of:

   basidiomycete, basidiomycetous fungi

   any of various fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota
3. noun

   common name for an edible agaric (contrasting with the inedible toadstool)
   antonyms:

   toadstool

   common name for an inedible or poisonous agaric (contrasting with the edible mushroom)

   type of:

   agaric

   a saprophytic fungus of the order Agaricales having an umbrellalike cap with gills on the underside
4. noun

   fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi
   type of:

   veg, vegetable, veggie

   edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant
5. noun

   a large cloud of rubble and dust shaped like a mushroom and rising into the sky after an explosion (especially of a nuclear bomb)
   synonyms: mushroom cloud, mushroom-shaped cloud

   type of:

   cloud

   any collection of particles (e.g., smoke or dust) or gases that is visible
6. verb

   pick or gather mushrooms
   “We went mushrooming in the Fall”

   type of:

   cull, pick, pluck

   look for and gather
7. verb

   grow and spread fast
   “The problem mushroomed”

   type of:

   grow

   become larger, greater, or bigger; expand or gain