Word: effloresce Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Latin efflōrēscere, present active infinitive of efflōrēscō (“to bloom, blossom; to flourish”) + -ere (suffix forming infinitives). Efflōrēscō is derived from ef- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + flōrēscō (“to blossom, flower; to begin to flourish or prosper”) (from flōreō (“to bloom, blossom, flower; to flourish, prosper”) (from flōs (“blossom, flower”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“bloom, flower”)) + -scō (suffix forming verbs having the sense of beginning something)). By surface analysis, ef- + Latin flor- + -esce. Pronunciation: /ˌɛfləˈɹɛs/, /-flɒ-/ 1. To burst into bloom; to flower. Labels: intransitive Example: The genus isis, or coral, in the order of zoophytes, or composite animals, efflorescing like vegetables, is an animal in the form of a plant, with a stony stem, jointed, and the joints longitudinally channelled, united by spongy or horny junctures, covered by a soft porous cellular flesh or bark, and having a mouth beset with oviparous polypes. Example: Human societies have effloresced to levels of extreme complexity because their members have the intelligence and flexibility to play roles of virtually any degree of specification, and to switch them as the occasion demands. 2. Of something hidden: to come forth, to emerge; also, to reach full glory or power. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: These [God's promises], implanted in the soul of David, effloresced in the Psalms to that luxuriance and fruitfulness which have made them the delight and nourishment of all succeeding ages of the church, [...] Example: No more in tears / She lingers 'mong the years, / No more she watcheth through the lonesome night; / Her night is past, / No shadow on her cast, / She effloresceth 'mong the flowers in light. 3. Senses relating to chemistry. Labels: intransitive Example: This is the very caſe with the Pyrites that conſiſt only of iron and ſulphur; yet ſome of them, as we ſaid before, do not effloreſce ſpontaneouſly and turn to Vitriol. Example: The ſame alkali, diſſolved in water, previouſly ſaturated with air, produces by cryſtallization ſimilar figures; theſe cryſtals neither deliqueſce in moiſt air, nor effloreſce in dry, but always retain their tranſparency: [...] 4. Senses relating to chemistry. Labels: intransitive Example: The ſalts which effloreſce from old walls, are nitre more or leſs pure, quadrangular nitre, mineral alkali in abundance, more or leſs pure, and mixed with calcareous earth; [...] Example: It [sodium sulphate] exists likewise native in mineral springs, and sometimes it effloresces on the walls of old buildings. 5. Senses relating to chemistry. Labels: intransitive Example: In the country about Rome there is a very hard ſtone, which is hewn out of the quarry juſt like other ſtones for building: this ſtone yields a great deal of Alum. In order to extract it, the ſtones are calcined for twelve or fourteen hours; after which they are expoſed to the air in heaps, and carefully watered three or four times a day for forty days together. In that time they begin to effloreſce, and to throw out a reddiſh matter on their ſurface. Example: This ſtone is perpetually effloreſcing, and forming the ſalt called Sulphate of Iron: vulgarly, Copperas.