pullulate

To multiply rapidly.

Verb

  1. To multiply rapidly.
  2. To germinate.
  3. To teem with; to be filled (with).
    • I must say the whole of Oxford has become most peculiar suddenly. Last night it was pullulating with women. - 1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 1, in Brideshead Revisited […], London: Chapman & Hall, published 1952, →OCLC,...

Origin

Borrowed from Latin pullulātus, perfect passive participle of pullulō (“sprout forth”), from pullulus (“a young animal, a sprout”), diminutive of pullus.

Forms

pullulates pullulating pullulated

Related

pullet poultry repullulate

Derived

pullulation