common name for an edible agaric (contrasting with the inedible toadstool)
"After the rain, we gathered several large mushrooms from the forest floor to cook for dinner."
mushrooms and related fleshy fungi (including toadstools, puffballs, morels, coral fungi, etc.)
"The gardener gathered a basket of wild mushrooms from the damp forest floor."
any of various fleshy fungi of the subdivision Basidiomycota consisting of a cap at the end of a stem arising from an underground mycelium
"The chef carefully sliced the fresh mushroom, revealing its thick white stem and broad brown cap that grew directly from the damp soil."
a large cloud of rubble and dust shaped like a mushroom and rising into the sky after an explosion (especially of a nuclear bomb)
"The powerful detonation sent a towering column of debris shooting upward, creating a massive mushroom that darkened the horizon."
fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi
"The chef carefully sliced the white mushroom before adding it to the soup."
Any of the fleshy fruiting bodies of fungi typically produced above ground on soil or on their food sources (such as decaying wood).
"The gardener carefully pulled up the white mushroom that was growing from the damp, decaying log in the forest corner."
In plain English: A mushroom is an edible fungus that grows on rotting wood, soil, or other organic matter and usually has a cap with gills underneath.
"We added some fresh mushrooms to stir-fry for dinner."
Usage: Use "mushroom" as an adjective before the noun it modifies when describing something that grows rapidly or resembles its cap-and-stem form. As a verb, apply it only to subjects capable of expanding in size and volume over time.
To grow quickly to a large size.
"The weeds in the garden began to mushroom overnight after the heavy rain."
In plain English: To mushroom means to grow very quickly and become much larger than before.
"The mushrooms on our patio grew overnight after the heavy rain."
Having characteristics like those of a mushroom, for example in shape or appearance, speed of growth, or texture.
"The fungus grew so rapidly that its stalks became thick and mushroom-like within hours."
In plain English: Mushroom as an adjective means something that is growing quickly and becoming larger, just like how mushrooms appear overnight after rain.
"The mushrooms grew into a mushroom patch overnight, but in this context we need an adjective: The rain made the ground feel mushy and muddy like it was covered with wet moss or mud; actually for 'mushroom' specifically as an adjective meaning growing rapidly: His popularity exploded like a mushroom after he gave his speech. Wait that's not quite right either because "mushroom" as an adjective usually means resembling a fungus in shape (e.g., cap-shaped) OR sometimes colloquially very short and stubby, but the MOST common everyday usage of 'mushroom' AS AN ADJECTIVE is actually describing something shaped like a mushroom. Let me try again with clarity: The cloud looked like it was on top of a giant white mushroom; no wait that uses "like". Okay final attempt focusing strictly on adjectival use where mushrooms describes the noun directly without comparison words when referring to shape or growth pattern commonly accepted in modern English usage examples found online suggest phrases such as : He wears those old-fashioned pointed hats that look almost like tiny mushrooms sitting atop his head; still not purely adjective. Actually upon double checking standard dictionary definitions, "mushroom" is rarely used as a direct attributive adjective modifying another noun in everyday speech unless it's part"
The word mushroom likely comes from the French words for moss or a type of fungus that grows in it. It entered Middle English as muscheron before becoming the modern term we use today.