sprout

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++

Related topics: Plants

sprout1 /spraʊt/ verb  1  [intransitive, transitive]HBPGROW/GET BIGGER if vegetables, seeds, or plants sprout, they start to grow, producing shoots, buds, or leaves 〔蔬菜、种子、植物〕发芽，抽芽；开始长出〔叶子〕 Move the pots outside when the seeds begin to sprout. 种子开始发芽时把盆搬到外面去。 Trees were starting to sprout new leaves. 树上开始抽出新叶。2  [intransitive] (also sprout up)APPEAR to appear suddenly in large numbers 突然大量出现，大量冒出 Office blocks are sprouting up everywhere. 到处都有办公大楼冒出来。3  [intransitive, transitive]GROW/GET BIGGER if something such as hair sprouts or if you sprout it, it starts to grow 〔头发等〕开始长出；〔某人〕开始长〔毛发等〕 Jim seemed to have sprouted a beard. 吉姆好像长出胡子了。→ See Verb table

Examples from the Corpus

sprout• But even the grass roots of the club are sprouting.• Jim seemed to have sprouted a beard overnight.• He was standing in the centre of the corridor with sheaves of documents sprouting from his fists.• Early potatoes should be sprouted indoors now to go out in spring.• Dark hair sprouted off the stump as if off a swollen knuckle.• The end started around the time our subjects sprouted the slightest of facial hair.• Weeds are starting to sprout through cracks in the sidewalk.• Superior products would evolve and stiff competition would sprout up as Roundup patent protections expired around the globe.• Beyond her kitchen window, crocuses sprouted up from the grass, bright as doubloons, orange and heliotrope.

Related topics: Food, Plants, Crops

sprout2 noun [countable]  1. DFHBP especially British English a small green vegetable like a very small cabbage 球芽甘蓝 SYN brussels sprout →5 see picture at 见图 vegetable12. HBPa new growth on a plant 〔植物的〕苗；芽，嫩枝 SYN shoot3. [usually plural] American EnglishDF an alfalfa seed which has grown a stem and is eaten 〔可食的〕苜蓿芽4. [usually plural] American EnglishHBPDF a beansprout 豆芽

Examples from the Corpus

sprout• A sprout can take just so much and then no more.• Add bean sprouts and cook another half minute.Origin sprout1 Old English sprutan

sprout1 verbsprout2 nounChinese  

or to if plants seeds, they start vegetables, sprout, Corpus

sprout

I

sprout¹ /spraʊt/ verb1. [intransitive and transitive] if vegetables, seeds, or plants sprout, they start to grow, producing shoots, buds, or leaves:
    Move the pots outside when the seeds begin to sprout.
    Trees were starting to sprout new leaves.
2. [intransitive] (also sprout up) to appear suddenly in large numbers:
    Office blocks are sprouting up everywhere.
3. [intransitive and transitive] if something such as hair sprouts or if you sprout it, it starts to grow:
    Jim seemed to have sprouted a beard.

II

sprout² noun [countable]
1. especially British English a small green vegetable like a very small cabbage
   SYN  brussels sprout
2. a new growth on a plant
   SYN  shoot
3. [usually plural] American English an alfalfa seed which has grown a stem and is eaten
4. [usually plural] American English a beansprout