effloresce : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: effloresce	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for effloresce
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
effloresce v come into or as if into flower; "These manifestations effloresced in the past" Synonym(s): effloresce, burst forth assume crystalline form; become crystallized Synonym(s): crystallize, crystalize, crystalise, effloresce become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Effloresce \Ef`floresce"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Effloresced}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Efflorescing}.] [L. efflorescere to bloom, blossom; ex + florescere to begin to blossom, incho., fr. florere to blossom, fr. flos a flower. See {Flower}.] 1. To blossom forth. --Carlyle. 2. (Chem.) To change on the surface, or throughout, to a whitish, mealy, or crystalline powder, from a gradual decomposition, esp. from the loss of water, on simple exposure to the air; as, Glauber's salts, and many others, effloresce. 3. To become covered with a whitish crust or light crystallization, from a slow chemical change between some of the ingredients of the matter covered and an acid proceeding commonly from an external source; as, the walls of limestone caverns sometimes effloresce* with nitrate of calcium in consequence of the action in consequence of nitric acid formed in the atmosphere.