1. (

• mushroom

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

2. (

• mushroom ,

) mushrooms and related fleshy fungi (including toadstools, puffballs, morels, coral fungi, etc.) ;

3. (

• mushroom ,

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

4. (

• mushroom ,
• mushroom_cloud ,
• mushroom-shaped_cloud

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

5. (

• mushroom

) fleshy body of any of numerous edible fungi ;

1. (

• mushroom

) pick or gather mushrooms; "We went mushrooming in the Fall" ;

2. (

• mushroom

) grow and spread fast; "The problem mushroomed" ;