| effloresce | 1. To blossom forth. 2. <chemistry> To change on the surface, or throughout, to a whitish, mealy, or crystalline powder, from a gradual decomposition, especially. 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. Origin: L. Efflorescere to bloom, blossom; ex + florescere to begin to blossom, incho, fr. Florere to blossom, fr. Flos a flower. See Flower. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| efflorescence | 1. <botany> Flowering, or state of flowering; the blooming of flowers; blowth. 2. <medicine> A redness of the skin; eruption, as in rash, measles, smallpox, scarlatina, etc. 3. <chemistry> The formation of the whitish powder or crust on the surface of efflorescing bodies, as salts, etc. The powder or crust thus formed. Origin: F. Efflorescence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| efflorescent | Denoting a crystalline body that gradually changes to a powder by losing its water of crystallization on exposure to a dry atmosphere. (05 Mar 2000) |