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 intobloom ; toflower . - verb intransitive, chemistry To change from being
crystalline to beingpowdery by losingwater 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
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Examples
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They will dug fake tunnels, tunnel that leads to dead ends, tunnels that impossibly knot into themselves, tunnels with sonar-cancelling pings, tunnels that lead to police headquarters, tunnels that effloresce into a thicket of infinitely bifurcating tunnels, and tunnels that lead to other dimensions.
Sewer Zeppelins for the Era of Infrastructural Anarchy & Other Roman Tales 2009
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They will dug fake tunnels, tunnel that leads to dead ends, tunnels that impossibly knot into themselves, tunnels with sonar-cancelling pings, tunnels that lead to police headquarters, tunnels that effloresce into a thicket of infinitely bifurcating tunnels, and tunnels that lead to other dimensions.
Archive 2009-07-01 2009
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The newspaper age was dawning in America, an age that would effloresce into mass communications and the formation of a transformative popular culture.
Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005
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The newspaper age was dawning in America, an age that would effloresce into mass communications and the formation of a transformative popular culture.
Mark Twain Ron Powers 2005
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A great deal of chemical action then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce on the surface, and the mass becomes hard.
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A great deal of chemical action then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce on the surface, and the mass becomes hard.
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The inexperienced ought here to be guarded against the highly improper practice of some artists, who strew their pictures while wet with acetate of lead, or use that substance in some other mode, without grinding or solution; which, though it may promote present drying, will ultimately effloresce on the surface of the work, throw off the colour in sandy spots, and expose the paintings to peculiar risk from the damaging influence of impure air.
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists George Field
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Glauber's salt (sodium sulphate) produces a good smooth surface when added to soap, but, owing to its tendency to effloresce more quickly than soda carbonate, it is not so much used as formerly.
The Handbook of Soap Manufacture H. A. Appleton
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Coromandel, the dried indigo lumps are allowed to effloresce in a cask for some time, and when they become hard they are wiped and packed for exportation.
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In oil, verdigris is permanent with respect to light and air, but moisture and an impure atmosphere change its colour, and cause it to effloresce or rise to the surface through the oil.
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists George Field
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