sprout
verbEtymology From Middle English sprouten, spruten, from Old English sprūtan, from Proto-West Germanic *spreutan, from Proto-Germanic *spreutaną.
1
Agriculture, Business, Horticulture, Lifestyle To grow from seed; to germinate.
- The crocuses should be sprouting after 2 months, provided they're well tended.
2
To cause to grow from a seed.
- I sprouted beans and radishes and put them in my salad.
3
To deprive of sprouts.
- to sprout potatoes
4
To emerge from the ground as sprouts.
5
Figuratively To emerge haphazardly from a surface.
- Whiskers sprouted from the old man's chin.
6
Figuratively To emerge or appear haphazardly.
- A lot of coffee shops have sprouted up in this neighbourhood since the block of flats was put up.
- In those early years of the 1830s and 1840s, railways were sprouting up all over the country in a haphazard way.2023 August 23, David E Norris, “Joseph Locke: a railway injustice...”, in RAIL, number 990, page 56:
- Synonyms
- ackerspyre
- Derived terms
- asprout, nonsprouting, resprout, sproutage, sproutarian, sprouter, sprout up, unsprouting, upsprout
- Related terms
- unsprouted, brussel sprout