mushroom

mushroom
{{11}}mushroom (n.) mid-15c., muscheron, musseroun (attested 1327 as a surname, John Mussheron), from Anglo-Fr. musherun, O.Fr. meisseron (11c., Mod.Fr. mousseron), perhaps from L.L. mussirionem (nom. mussirio), though this might as well be borrowed from French. Barnhart says "of uncertain origin." Klein calls it "a word of pre-Latin origin, used in the North of France;" OED says it usually is held to be a derivative of Fr. mousse "moss" (from Germanic), and Weekley agrees, saying it is properly "applied to variety which grows in moss," but Klein says they have "nothing in common." For the final -m Weekley refers to GROGRAM (Cf. grogram), VELLUM (Cf. vellum), VENOM (Cf. venom). Modern spelling is from 1560s.
Used figuratively for something or someone that makes a sudden appearance in full form from 1590s. In reference to the shape of clouds after explosions, etc., it is attested from 1916, though the actual phrase mushroom cloud does not appear until 1955.
{{12}}mushroom (v.) "expand or increase rapidly," 1741, from MUSHROOM (Cf. mushroom) (n.). Related: Mushroomed; mushrooming.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Mushroom — Mush room, a. 1. Of or pertaining to mushrooms; as, mushroom catchup. [1913 Webster] 2. Resembling mushrooms in rapidity of growth and shortness of duration; short lived; ephemerial; as, mushroom cities. [1913 Webster] {Mushroom anchor}, an… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Mushroom — Chanson par Can extrait de l’album Tago Mago Pays  Allemagne Sortie 1971 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • mushroom — [mush′ro͞om΄, mush′room΄] n. [ME muscheron < OFr moisseron < LL mussirio (gen. mussirionis)] 1. a) any of various rapidly growing, fleshy fungi, typically having a stalk capped with an umbrellalike top; esp., a gill or pore fungus b) the… …   English World dictionary

  • mushroom — mush‧room [ˈmʌʆruːm, rʊm] verb [intransitive] to develop very quickly: • Cable has mushroomed into a giant industry. mushrooming adjective : • the mushrooming private business sector * * * mushroom UK US /ˈmʌʃruːm/ verb [I] INFORMAL …   Financial and business terms

  • Mushroom TV — Limited is an English television company and owner of several satellite television music channels. Mushroom operates Channel AKA, Starz TV and Greatest Hits TV. The company was launched in 2000 and, according to their website, are fully committed …   Wikipedia

  • Mushroom — Mush room, n. [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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • mushroom — mush room, v. i. 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] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • mushroom — index proliferate Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • mushroom — [v] sprout; grow quickly augment, blow up, boom, burgeon, burst, detonate, expand, explode, flourish, go off, grow, grow rapidly, increase, luxuriate, proliferate, shoot up, spread, spring up; concepts 179,704 Ant. shrink, shrivel …   New thesaurus

  • mushroom — ► NOUN 1) a spore producing body of a fungus, typically having the form of a domed cap at the top of a stalk and often edible. 2) a pale pinkish brown colour. ► VERB ▪ increase or develop rapidly. ORIGIN Old French mousseron …   English terms dictionary

  • Mushroom — The mushroom Amanita muscaria, commonly known as fly agaric A mushroom is the fleshy, spore bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name mushroom is the cultivated… …   Wikipedia

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