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toadstool

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A fungus with an umbrella-shaped fruiting body, especially one thought to be inedible or poisonous.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A common name for numerous umbrella-shaped fungi which grow abundantly on decaying vegetable matter.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A name given to many umbrella-shaped fungi, mostly of the genus Agaricus. The species are almost numberless. They grow on decaying organic matter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any inedible or poisonous mushroom, especially an agaric.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun common name for an inedible or poisonous agaric (contrasting with the edible mushroom)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English tadde (toad), from Old English tadie, of unknown origin; + Middle English stole (stool), from Old English stol, from Proto-Germanic *stolaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sta-lo-, locative of Proto-Indo-European base *sta- (to stand).

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Examples

  • Europeans believed that toads derived their poisons from the earth by eating mushrooms hence the English name toadstool.

    The Serpent and the Rainbow Wade Davis 1985

  • As to my nose, I could absolutely see nothing of its shape; the firelight just caught the round tip, which shone like a little white toadstool from the gloom, and this was all.

    Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances 1869

  • "And, indeed, sir," said Miss Betty, who had rubbed her nose till it looked like the twin toadstool to that which the baby was flourishing in her face, "you don't suppose I would have left the poor little thing another moment, to catch its death of cold on a

    Lob Lie-by-the-Fire: or The Luck of Lingborough 1873

  • _ The first thing in deciding the nature of a toadstool is the sporeprint, made thus: Cut off the stem of the toadstool and lay the gills down on a piece of gray paper under a vessel of any kind.

    Scouting For Girls, Official Handbook of the Girl Scouts Girl Scouts of the United States of America 1918

  • I thought that thing you have in your hand was a new kind of toadstool, growing on the fence.

    The Tale of Old Mr. Crow Arthur Scott Bailey 1913

  • The classic 'toadstool' look with a red top and white dots it's very easy to spot.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2009

  • "If your head clerk says that our toadstool is a mushroom, while Mr. Bungwall's gardener says that our mushroom is

    Eliza Barry Pain 1896

  • The boys always say that a toadstool is the old Squire's 'mark' on a log. "

    Homespun Tales Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin 1889

  • But a dangerous toadstool can look just like a delectable one.

    Bloodlust Russell Jacoby 2011

  • I don't think toadstool cheyney said this many words while he was vp.

    White House forcefully responds to Cheney 2009

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