Growing (Up)

April's theme is "growing (up)"

It's an interesting one I think.

Growing has so many ideas attached to it - plants, families, communities and so on.

Growing up has so many ideas attached to it - children, adults who should have but haven't, adults who have but choose to retain the best bits of childhood, maturity, and so on.

As per usual, here is the dictionary definition!

grow (gr)

v. grew (gr), grown (grn), grow·ing, grows

v.intr.

1. To increase in size by a natural process.

2.

a. To expand; gain: The business grew under new owners.

b. To increase in amount or degree; intensify: The suspense grew.

3. To develop and reach maturity.

4. To be capable of growth; thrive: a plant that grows in shade.

5. To become attached by or as if by the process of growth: tree trunks that had grown together.

6. To come into existence from a source; spring up: love that grew from friendship.

7. To come to be by a gradual process or by degrees; become: grow angry; grow closer.

v.tr.

1. To cause to grow; raise: grow tulips.

2. To allow (something) to develop or increase by a natural process: grow a beard.

3. Usage Problem To cause to increase or expand by concerted effort: strategies that grew the family business.

Phrasal Verbs:

grow into

1. To develop so as to become: A boy grows into a man.

2. To develop or change so as to fit: She grew into her job. He grew into the relationship slowly.

grow on/upon

1. To become gradually more evident to: A feeling of distrust grew on me.

2. To become gradually more pleasurable or acceptable to: a taste that grows on a person.

grow up

To become an adult.

Idiom:

grow out of

To develop or come into existence from: an article that grew out of a few scribbled notes.

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[Middle English growen, from Old English grwan; see ghr- in Indo-European roots.]

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grower n.

growing·ly adv.

Usage Note: Grow has been used since medieval times as an intransitive verb, as in Our business has been growing steadily for 10 years. It has been used with an object since the 18th century, meaning "to produce or cultivate," as in We grow corn in our garden. But the transitive use applied to business and nonliving things is quite new. It came into full bloom during the 1992 presidential election, when nearly all the candidates were concerned with "growing the economy." The Usage Panel is decidedly less fond of this development than business leaders and politicans are. Eighty percent of the Panel rejects the phrase grow our business. The Panel is more accepting of, though not enthusiastic about, the phrase grow our way, perhaps because of way's established use in expressions like make our way and find our way: 48 percent accept We've got to grow our way out of this recession. The Panel has no affection for the odd but occasionally heard phrase grow down: 98 percent reject If elected, I shall do my utmost to grow down the deficit.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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grow

Verb

[growing, grew, grown]

1. (of a person or animal) to increase in size and develop physically

2. (of a plant) to exist and increase in size: an ancient meadow where wild flowers grow

3. to produce (a plant) by planting seeds, bulbs, or cuttings, and looking after it: many farmers have expressed a wish to grow more cotton

4. to let (one's hair or nails) develop: to grow a beard

5. to increase in size or degree: the gulf between rich and poor is growing

6. to originate or develop: Melbourne grew from a sheep-farming outstation and occasional port to a city

7. to become increasingly as specified: as the night wore on the audience grew more intolerant

See also grow on, grow out of, etc. [Old English grōwan]

growing adj
grower n

Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006

Plenty to think about there I think!