effloresce Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb come into or as if into flower
    burst forth.
    • These manifestations effloresced in the past
  2. verb assume crystalline form; become crystallized
    crystalise; crystalize; crystallize.
  3. verb become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation

WordNet

Ef`flo*resce" intransitive verb
Etymology
L. efflorescere to bloom, blossom; ex + florescere to begin to blossom, incho., fr. florere to blossom, fr. flos a flower. See Flower.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Effloresced ; present participle & verbal noun Efflorescing
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913