mushroom

noun

• 1a fungal growth that typically takes the form of a domed cap on a stalk, with gills on the underside of the cap: she sautéd the mushrooms in butter [as modifier]:mushroom soup
• a thing resembling a mushroom in shape:a mushroom of smoke and flames

Mushrooms are fruiting bodies that produce spores, growing from the hyphae of fungi concealed in soil or wood. Proverbial for rapid growth, many varieties are edible and toadstools are often called mushrooms when they are considered to be edible

• 2 [mass noun] a pale pinkish-brown colour: [as modifier]:a mushroom leather bag

verb

• 1increase, spread, or develop rapidly:environmental concern mushroomed in the 1960s

• 2form a shape resembling that of a mushroom:the grenade mushroomed into red fire as it hit the hillside
• (of a bullet) expand and flatten on reaching its target: these are high-performance bullets which mushroom upon impact

• 3 (usually as noun mushrooming) gather mushrooms: he went mushrooming with his father