Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To blossom; bloom.
  • intransitive verb To develop or flourish.
  • intransitive verb To become a powder by losing water of crystallization, as when a hydrated crystal is exposed to air.
  • intransitive verb To become covered with a powdery deposit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To burst into bloom, as a plant.
  • To present an appearance of flowering or bursting into bloom; specifically, to become covered with an effiorescence; become incrusted with crystals of salt or the like.
  • In chem., to change either throughout or over the surface to a whitish, mealy, or crystalline powder, from a gradual decomposition, on simple exposure to the air; become covered with a whitish crust or light crystallization, in the form of short threads or spiculæ, from a slow chemical change between some of the ingredients of the matter covered and an acid proceeding commonly from an external source.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To blossom forth.
  • intransitive verb (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.
  • intransitive verb 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To burst into bloom; to flower.
  • verb intransitive, chemistry To change from being crystalline to being powdery by losing water of crystallization.
  • verb intransitive To become covered with powder.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb assume crystalline form; become crystallized
  • verb become encrusted with crystals due to evaporation
  • verb come into or as if into flower

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin efflōrēscere : ex-, ex- + flōrēscere, inchoative of flōrēre, to blossom (from flōs, flōr-, flower; see bhel- in Indo-European roots).]

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