toadstool
Americannoun
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any of various mushrooms having a stalk with an umbrellalike cap, especially the agarics.
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a poisonous mushroom, as distinguished from an edible one.
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any of various other fleshy fungi, as the puffballs and coral fungi.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of toadstool
First recorded in 1350–1400, toadstool is from the Middle English word tadstol. See toad, stool
Explanation
A toadstool might sound like something you'd find a fairy living under, but it's really just a poisonous mushroom. If you're walking in the woods and see especially colorful, mushrooms, they're probably toadstools. In other words, it's not a good idea to eat them. You can use the terms mushroom and toadstool interchangeably — although most people save toadstool for fairy tales and poisonous fungi; it's not a scientific term. The root is probably just the creative combination of the Middle English tadde, "toad," and stole, "stool."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Here’s a rundown of every dish at the Super Mario Bros.-themed Toadstool Cafe.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2023
Visitors can also eat at Toadstool Café and get Nintendo swag at “1-UP Factory store.”
From Reuters • Feb. 16, 2023
Though its development had little to do with America, the game’s ragtime-y overworld theme and feminist allocation of the best moves to playable character Princess Toadstool make me feel patriotic.
From Slate • Oct. 16, 2020
One reads “Famous for our flat, boring landscape” and shows hikers hopping among rock spires at northwest Nebraska’s Toadstool Geologic Park.
From Washington Times • Oct. 22, 2018
Then the fairy saw it was all over with her and Toadstool; for they can do nothing with mortals against their will.
From Cross Purposes and The Shadows by MacDonald, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
