Definition of "sprout"

sprout¹

/spɹaʊt/

noun
plural sprouts
1. A new growth on a plant, whether from seed or other parts.
2. A child.
3. A Brussels sprout.
4. A bean sprout.
5. An edible germinated seed.

sprout²

/spɹaʊt/

verb
third-person singular simple present sprouts, present participle sprouting, simple past and past participle sprouted
1. (horticulture, intransitive) To grow from seed; to germinate.
2. (transitive) To cause to grow from a seed.
3. (transitive) To deprive of sprouts.
4. (intransitive) To emerge from the ground as sprouts.
5. (figurative, intransitive) To emerge haphazardly from a surface.
6. (figurative, intransitive) To emerge or appear haphazardly.
  Quotations
  In those early years of the 1830s and 1840s, railways were sprouting up all over the country in a haphazard way.
  2023 August 23, David E Norris, “Joseph Locke: a railway injustice...”, in RAIL, number 990, page 56