pullulate
verbUK, US /ˈpʌl.jʊ.leɪt/
Etymology Borrowed from Latin pullulātus, perfect passive participle of pullulō (“sprout forth”), from pullulus (“a young animal, a sprout”), diminutive of pullus.
1
To multiply rapidly.
2
To germinate.
3
To teem with; to be filled (with).
- I must say the whole of Oxford has become most peculiar suddenly. Last night it was pullulating with women.1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 1, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), page 22:
- Derived terms
- pullulation
- Related terms
- pullet, poultry, repullulate