: a medium to large poisonous amanita mushroom (Amanita muscaria) with a usually bright red cap
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebMy favorites are fly agaric mushrooms, with white stalks and bright red tops.National Geographic, 5 Nov. 2020 Historians have long assumed that fly agaric, a hallucinogenic mushroom, was the berserkers’ drug of choice.National Geographic, 11 Feb. 2020 One of the more hotly contested hypotheses is that the berserkers ingested a hallucinogenic mushroom (Amanita muscaria), commonly known as fly agaric, just before battle to induce their trancelike state. Jennifer Ouellette, Wired, 21 Sep. 2019 One of the more hotly contested hypotheses is that the berserkers ingested a hallucinogenic mushroom (Amanita muscaria), commonly known as fly agaric, just before battle to induce their trance-like state. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 18 Sep. 2019 Reindeer historically have tripped on them too, and in some places fly agaric has even been associated with Christmas. Joanna Klein, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2017 Recently mushroom hunters and nature lovers have been sharing photos of their fly agaric finds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Joanna Klein, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2017 The fly agaric is the quintessential mushroom of fairy tales. Joanna Klein, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2017 See More
Word History
First Known Use
1788, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
fly agaric
noun
: a poisonous mushroom of the genus Amanita (A. muscaria) that has a variably colored but typically bright-red pileus with a warty white scurf on the surface that with the related death cap is responsible for most cases of severe mushroom poisoning, that has been used as a source of poison for flypaper, and that is extensively used chiefly in northeastern Asia as an intoxicant especially for the hallucinatory effects that it produces