pullulate

1 be teeming, be abuzz; "The garden was swarming with bees"; "The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen"; "her mind pullulated with worries" [syn: teem, swarm]

2 move in large numbers; "people were pouring out of the theater"; "beggars pullulated in the plaza" [syn: pour, swarm, stream, teem]

3 produce buds, branches, or germinate; "the potatoes sprouted" [syn: shoot, spud, germinate, bourgeon, burgeon forth, sprout]

4 become abundant; increase rapidly

5 breed freely and abundantly

English

Etymology

From the Latin pullulatus, past participle of pullulare "to sprout," from pullulus "a young animal, a sprout," diminutive of pullus.

Verb

1. to rapidly multiply
2. to germinate
3. to teem with; to be filled with

Derived terms

• pullulation

Italian

Verb

pullulate

1. Form of Second-person plural present tense, pullulare
2. Form of Second-person plural imperative, pullulare#Italian|pullulare

abound, abound with, be alive with, be fruitful, be productive, beget, blossom, brew, bristle with, bud, burgeon, burst forth, burst with, clutter, crawl, crawl with, creep with, crowd, develop, engender, fill, flood, flourish, flow, fructify, gather, gemmate, germinate, grow, grow rank, grow up, hypertrophy, increase, jam, know no bounds, leaf, leaf out, leave, luxuriate, mature, multiply, mushroom, outgrow, overabound, overbrim, overdevelop, overflow, overflow with, overgrow, overrun, overspill, overspread, overswarm, overtop, pack, procreate, proliferate, pullulate with, put forth, put forth leaves, put out buds, reproduce, riot, root, run riot, shoot, shoot up, spill over, spring up, sprout, sprout up, strike root, superabound, swarm, swarm with, take root, teem, teem with, thrive, throng with, tower, upshoot, upspear, upspring, upsprout, vegetate, wax