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# puffball

«puffball» in Mova's school dictionary: **A round fungus (mushroom) without a cap or stalk, white…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a puffball, puffballs)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A round fungus (mushroom) without a cap or stalk, white or brown, that bursts and puffs out a cloud of spores like dust when it is old. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#m1)

2) Anything round, soft and fluffy, like a dandelion clock or a fluffy chick (informal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In nature lessons, puffballs show how fungi spread spores. Giant puffballs can grow as big as a football. In stories, a puffball can be a fluffy pet or a cloud. Safety: only experts should pick fungi to eat. Phrases: «giant puffball», «puff of spores».

### examples

- When I stepped on the puffball, a brown cloud of spores came out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x1)
- We found a giant puffball in the field. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x2)
- Puffballs spread their spores in the wind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x3)
- The kitten was a tiny white puffball. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x4)
- Never eat a wild puffball unless an expert checks it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x5)
- Puffballs have no gills like other mushrooms. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/#x6)

### note

Countable; one word. Safety: some young poisonous mushrooms look like puffballs, so do not touch or eat wild fungi without an adult expert. The «smoke» is millions of spores, not smoke.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «puffball» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/puffball/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.