Grow (grō), v. i. [imp.Grew (grṳ); p. p.Grown (grōn); p. pr. & vb. n.Growing.] [AS. grōwan; akin to D. groeijen, Icel. grōa, Dan. groe, Sw. gro. Cf. Green, Grass.] 1. To increase in size by a natural and organic process; to increase in bulk by the gradual assimilation of new matter into the living organism; — said of animals and vegetables and their organs.
2. To increase in any way; to become larger and stronger; to be augmented; to advance; to extend; to wax; to accrue.
Winter began to grow fast on. Knolles.
Even just the sum that I do owe to you
Is growing to me by Antipholus. Shak.
3. To spring up and come to maturity in a natural way; to be produced by vegetation; to thrive; to flourish; as, rice grows in warm countries.
Where law faileth, error groweth. Gower.
4. To pass from one state to another; to result as an effect from a cause; to become; as, to grow pale.
For his mind
Had grown Suspicion's sanctuary. Byron.
5. To become attached or fixed; to adhere.
Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow. Shak.
Growing cell, or Growing slide, a device for preserving alive a minute object in water continually renewed, in a manner to permit its growth to be watched under the microscope. — Grown over, covered with a growth. — To grow out of, to issue from, as plants from the soil, or as a branch from the main stem; to result from.
These wars have grown out of commercial considerations. A. Hamilton.
— To grow up, to arrive at full stature or maturity; as, grown up children. — To grow together, to close and adhere; to become united by growth, as flesh or the bark of a tree severed. Howells.
Syn. — To become; increase; enlarge; augment; improve; expand; extend.