sprout

American  

[sprout] / spraʊt /

verb (used without object)

1. to begin to grow; shoot forth, as a plant from a seed.

   Synonyms:

   develop, burgeon, bud, spring

2. (of a seed or plant) to put forth buds or shoots.

3. to develop or grow quickly.

   a boy awkwardly sprouting into manhood.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to sprout.

2. to remove sprouts from.

   Sprout and boil the potatoes.

noun

1. a shoot of a plant.

2. a new growth from a germinating seed, or from a rootstock, tuber, bud, or the like.

3. something resembling or suggesting a sprout, as in growth.

4. a young person; youth.

5. sprouts,

   1. the young shoots of alfalfa, soybeans, etc., eaten as a raw vegetable.

   2. Brussels sprout.

sprout British  

/ spraʊt /

verb

1. (of a plant, seed, etc) to produce (new leaves, shoots, etc)

2. to begin to grow or develop

   new office blocks are sprouting up all over the city

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noun

1. a newly grown shoot or bud

2. something that grows like a sprout

3. See Brussels sprout

Other Word Forms

• nonsprouting adjective
• resprout verb
• undersprout noun
• unsprouted adjective
• unsprouting adjective

Etymology

Origin of sprout

1150–1200; (v.) Middle English spr ( o ) uten, Old English -sprūtan, in āsproten (past participle; a- ³ ); cognate with Middle Dutch sprūten, German spriessen to sprout; akin to Greek speírein to scatter; (noun) Middle English; compare Middle Dutch, Middle Low German sprute

Example Sentences

Others have flocked to civil-defense groups, which have sprouted up in cities around Taiwan in recent years.

From The Wall Street Journal

He grows cauliflowers, broccoli, leeks and brussel sprouts around Comber in County Down.

From BBC

I was a child of fourteen, while he and Willem were already university men, sprouting straggly beards and breathing out cigar smoke with their conversation.

From Literature

Posters and murals featuring his beatific brown face sprouted across Mexican American communities.

From Los Angeles Times

“She taught to the thwack of the hickory sprout,” Preacher Parr remembered.

From Literature

Related Words

• burgeon
• germinate
• grow