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Effloresce
Definitions
- 1 To burst into bloom; to flower. intransitive
"The genus isis, or coral, in the order of zoophytes, or composite animals, efflorescing like vegetables, is an animal in the form of a plant, with a stony stem, jointed, and the joints longitudinally channelled, united by spongy or horny junctures, covered by a soft porous cellular flesh or bark, and having a mouth beset with oviparous polypes."
- 2 become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation wordnet
- 3 Of something hidden: to come forth, to emerge; also, to reach full glory or power. figuratively, intransitive
"These [God's promises], implanted in the soul of David, effloresced in the Psalms to that luxuriance and fruitfulness which have made them the delight and nourishment of all succeeding ages of the church, [...]"
- 4 come into or as if into flower wordnet
- 5 Senses relating to chemistry.; Of a substance: to change from being crystalline to powdery by losing water of crystallization. intransitive
"This is the very caſe with the Pyrites that conſiſt only of iron and ſulphur; yet ſome of them, as we ſaid before, do not effloreſce ſpontaneouſly and turn to Vitriol."
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- 6 assume crystalline form; become crystallized wordnet
- 7 Senses relating to chemistry.; Of a salt: to seep through some material (bricks, concrete, earth, rock, etc.) in a dissolved state, and then crystallize on a surface in a powdery form. intransitive
"The ſalts which effloreſce from old walls, are nitre more or leſs pure, quadrangular nitre, mineral alkali in abundance, more or leſs pure, and mixed with calcareous earth; [...]"
- 8 Senses relating to chemistry.; Of the surface of a material: to become covered with a powdery salt (as described in sense 3.2). intransitive
"In the country about Rome there is a very hard ſtone, which is hewn out of the quarry juſt like other ſtones for building: this ſtone yields a great deal of Alum. In order to extract it, the ſtones are calcined for twelve or fourteen hours; after which they are expoſed to the air in heaps, and carefully watered three or four times a day for forty days together. In that time they begin to effloreſce, and to throw out a reddiſh matter on their ſurface."
Etymology
From Latin efflōrēscere, present active infinitive of efflōrēscō (“to bloom, blossom; to flourish”) + -ere (suffix forming infinitives). Efflōrēscō is derived from ef- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + flōrēscō (“to blossom, flower; to begin to flourish or prosper”) (from flōreō (“to bloom, blossom, flower; to flourish, prosper”) (from flōs (“blossom, flower”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“bloom, flower”)) + -scō (suffix forming verbs having the sense of beginning something)).
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