Definition of "toadstool" [toad•stool]

• An inedible or poisonous fungus with an umbrella-shaped fruiting body. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Europeans believed that toads derived their poisons from the earth by eating mushrooms hence the English name toadstool."
• "As to my nose, I could absolutely see nothing of its shape; the firelight just caught the round tip, which shone like a little white toadstool from the gloom, and this was all."
• ""And, indeed, sir," said Miss Betty, who had rubbed her nose till it looked like the twin toadstool to that which the baby was flourishing in her face, "you don't suppose I would have left the poor little thing another moment, to catch its death of cold on a"