See Also: Fungus(medicine)
fungus(encyclopedia)
fungus(dictionary)
Fungus(health)
fungus(dictionary)
jelly fungus(medicine)
Fungus the Bogeyman(dictionary)
foot fungus(medicine)
bracket fungus(encyclopedia)
fungus, foot(medicine)

fungus (iou)



fungus noun. , funguses. LME.
[Latin, prob. from Greek sphoggos, spoggos SPONGE noun1: cf. FUNGE.]
Any of a large division of organisms, including mushrooms, toadstools, moulds, rusts, yeasts, and constituents of lichens, which lack chlorophyll, reproduce as cryptogams, and grow on and obtain nutriment from organic matter; esp. a mushroom, toadstool, or similar kind. Also collect., a growth formed by such organisms. LME.
bracket fungus: see BRACKET noun.
S. Spender A tree..rotted by kidney-shaped fungus on the bark.
b. fig. Something growing rapidly or extensively. M18.
T. Paine Aristocracy..a kind of fungus growing out of the corruption of society.
Medicine. A growth of soft or spongy diseased tissue on a surface, as a tumour etc. L17.
b. A skin disease in fish. L19.
An excrescence of lampblack etc. on a wick. L18-E19.
A growth of facial hair, a beard. slang. E20.
H. Hobson In addition to the chin-fungus he'd put on a little weight.
Comb.: fungus-garden a growth of a fungus cultivated by ants or termites as a source of food; fungus-gnat, fungus-midge a small fly of the family Mycetophilidae, the larvae of most of which feed on fungi.
? Fungi have usu. been classified as plants but are sometimes regarded as constituting a distinct kingdom.