mushroom

7 definitions • 19 examples

a type of fungus (= any of various types of organisms that get their food from decaying material or other living things) that grows soft parts above the ground that produce spores (= reproductive cells). Some types of mushroom can be eaten, and many types have a round top part that grows on a stem:

wild mushroom The fish was grilled with wild mushrooms and fennel.

cultivated mushroom Cultivated mushrooms will never have the flavour of mushrooms grown in the wild.

button mushroom My friend ordered lamb cutlets, French beans, and button (= very small) mushrooms.

dried/grilled/stuffed/sliced mushrooms

cream of mushroom soup

For this recipe choose mushrooms with large caps (= top parts).

edible mushroom Unfortunately some poisonous mushrooms look like edible mushrooms.

a light grey-brown colour, like that of some mushrooms:

The carpet was of a colour somewhere between beige and mushroom.

Rooms are decorated in mushroom, camel and cream, with the odd splash of blue and purple.

light grey-brown in colour:

There are mushroom silk velvet curtains in the master bedroom.

She prefers rustic colours like mushroom brown and sage green.

to increase very quickly:

The number of computers in schools has mushroomed in recent years.

any one of many types of fast-growing fungus (= plants without leaves or flowers) with a round top and short stem, many of which are used as food:

wild mushrooms

mushroom soup

a pizza with mushrooms

to grow quickly:

If your business were to mushroom, would you be happy?

to increase in number or develop very quickly:

Low-cost airlines have mushroomed in recent years.

mushroom into sth The walkout mushroomed into a large-scale battle.

mushroom from sth to sth Area budgets mushroomed from $3.7 billion in 2005 to more than $6.3 billion this fiscal year.