pullulate

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • v pullulate breed freely and abundantly
    • v pullulate become abundant; increase rapidly
    • v pullulate produce buds, branches, or germinate "the potatoes sprouted"
    • v pullulate move in large numbers "people were pouring out of the theater","beggars pullulated in the plaza"
    • v pullulate be teeming, be abuzz "The garden was swarming with bees","The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen","her mind pullulated with worries"
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • v. i Pullulate To germinate; to bud; to multiply abundantly.
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • pullulate To germinate; bud.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • v.i Pullulate pul′ū-lāt to germinate, bud
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L. pullulatus, p. p. of pullulare, to sprout, from pullulus, a young animal, a sprout, dim. of pullus,. See pullet
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L.,—pullulus, a young animal, sprout—pullus. Cf. Pullet.

Usage

In literature:

In England the tokens of remembrance pullulated hardly less.
"Queen Victoria" by Lytton Strachey
I like pullulation; everything ought to increase and multiply as hard as it can.
"Crome Yellow" by Aldous Huxley
Be conservators of my pullulating existence.
"Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 22, August 27, 1870" by Various
Pullulation was forced, swift, marvellous; one could almost hear the grain grow.
"Desert Conquest" by A. M. Chisholm
Pullulation of trees, iv.
"Zoonomia, Vol. II" by Erasmus Darwin
From the sea-shore to the shady green park, from the park to the dim distance, the land pullulated with people.
"From Sea to Sea" by Rudyard Kipling
In England the tokens of remembrance pullulated hardly less.
"Queen Victoria" by Lytton Strachey
The majority of the little circles that once pullulated in Paris no longer exist.
"Unicorns" by James Huneker
Its usually deserted street was pullulating with child life.
"The House 'Round the Corner" by Gordon Holmes
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In poetry:

It was the night of the alligator:
snouts moving out of the slime,
in original darkness, the pullulations,
a clatter of armour, opaque
in the sleep of the bog,
turning back to the chalk of the sources.
"Some Beasts" by Pablo Neruda

In news:

To pay one's $5.00 and join the full house at the Translux for the evening show of Last Tango in Paris is to be reminded once again that the planet is in a state of pullulation.
nybooks.com
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In science:

Astrophysics is a sub ject wherein surprises also pullulate.
Avatars of a Matter-Antimatter Universe
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Related words