Search Result for "effloresce": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (3)

1. come into or as if into flower;
- Example: "These manifestations effloresced in the past"
[syn: effloresce, burst forth]

2. assume crystalline form; become crystallized;
[syn: crystallize, crystalize, crystalise, effloresce]

3. become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Effloresce \Ef`flo*resce"\, 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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 of nitric acid formed in the atmosphere. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

effloresce v 1: come into or as if into flower; "These manifestations effloresced in the past" [syn: effloresce, burst forth] 2: assume crystalline form; become crystallized [syn: crystallize, crystalize, crystalise, effloresce] 3: become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation