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Effloresce

1. To blossom forth.

2. (Science: 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, glaubers 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.