pullulate

pullulate [ˈpʌlyəˌleɪt] v.i.

1.) To put forth sprouts or buds; germinate.
2.) To breed rapidly or abundantly.
3.) To teem; swarm (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language).

Etymology: from Latin pullulāt-, participle stem of pullulāre, to sprout out, spring forth, spread, grow, increase, from pullulus, diminutive of pullus, young of any animal, chick.

"I do not want to describe it; a chaos of heterogeneous words, the body of a tiger or a bull in which teeth, organs and heads monstrously pullulate in mutual conjunction and hatred can (perhaps) be approximate images" ("The Immortal" by Jorge Luis Borges in Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings, Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby (ed.), 1964).


(Hercule et l'Hydre de Lerne, Gustave Moreau, 1876)