Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Fungus , noun

[Latin, a mushroom; perh. akin to a doubtful Greek {not transcribed} sponge, for {not transcribed}; if so, compare English sponge.]

The fungi are all destitute of chorophyll, and, therefore, to be supplied with elaborated nourishment, must live as saprophytes or parasites. They range in size from single microscopic cells to systems of entangled threads many feet in extent, which develop reproductive bodies as large as a man's head. The vegetative system consists of septate or rarely unseptate filaments called hypha; the aggregation of hypha into structures of more or less definite form is known as the mycelium. See Fungi, in the Supplement.