The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fungous \Fun"gous\, a. [L. fungosus: cf. F. fungueux.]
Of the nature of fungi; spongy.
Growing suddenly, but not substantial or durable.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., "spongy, tender," from Latin fungosus "full of holes, spongy," from fungus "a mushroom, fungus" (see fungus). Meaning "pertaining to or characterized by fungus" is from 18c.; figuratively, often "springing up suddenly" (1751).
Wiktionary
a. of or pertaining to a fungus; fungal
WordNet
adj. of or relating to fungi [syn: fungal]
Usage examples of "fungous".
It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water.
The morbid affections of the womb most likely to induce menorrhagia, are granular ulceration of its mouth and neck, fungous degeneration of its lining membrane, and tumors within that organ.
It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water.
Beyond the scarred trunks in the background, illumined by faint flashes of filtered lightning, rose the damp ivied stones of the deserted mansion, while somewhat nearer was the abandoned Dutch garden whose walks and beds were polluted by a white, fungous, foetid, over-nourished vegetation that never saw full daylight.