effloresce

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English[edit]

WOTD – 18 April 2020

Etymology[edit]

Salts efflorescing (sense 3.2) on a brick ceiling at the Kalktrichterofen Wuppertal, a 19th-century lime kiln in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
A masonry wall efflorescing (sense 3.3).

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)).[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

effloresce (third-person singular simple present effloresces, present participle efflorescing, simple past and past participle effloresced)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete except figuratively) To burst into bloom; to flower.
    • 1810, Joseph Guy, “Coral and Sponge Fishery”, in Guy’s Pocket Cyclopædia, or, Miscellany of Useful Knowledge. […], 5th augmented and improved edition, London: Printed [by C. Stower] for C. Cradock and W. Joy, […]; Darton, Harvey, and Co., […]; and J. Booth, […], →OCLC, page 187:
      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.
    • 1981, C. Leon Harris, “Modern Times: Marxism, Lysenkoism, and Sociobiology”, in Evolution: Genesis and Revelations: With Readings from Empedocles to Wilson, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 259:
      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. (intransitive, figuratively) Of something hidden: to come forth, to emerge; also, to reach full glory or power.
    • 1829, “Conversation the Fifteenth. What Light is Thrown, upon that Part of God’s Purpose which is yet Unaccomplished, by the Historical Events of the Jewish Nation?”, in [Henry Drummond], editor, Dialogues on Prophecy, volume III, London: James Nisbet, […], →OCLC, page 236:
      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, [...]
    • 1893, James M‘Vittie, In Memoriam, and Songs of Cheer from the Cradle to the Grave, Glasgow: Scottish Temperance League Office, →OCLC, page 155:
      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.
    • 2012 November 8, Michael Silverstein, “The [ ] Walked Down the Street”, in Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor, London Review of Books‎[1], volume 34, number 21, London: LRB Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC:
      Ferdinand de Saussure, who died in 1913 at the age of 55, sowed the seeds of structuralist thought that first took root in linguistics, then effloresced throughout the 20th century in fields as seemingly distinct as literary criticism, architecture, social anthropology and psychoanalysis.
    • 2014, Joshua Billings, “Tragedy and Philosophy around 1800”, in Genealogy of the Tragic: Greek Tragedy and German Philosophy, Princeton, N.J., Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 1:
      The Poetics is the origin of the notions that have turned the Greek form τραγῳδία, which flourished in Athens in the fifth century BC, into the modern genre of tragedy, which has effloresced in various times and places throughout Western cultures of the last half millennium.
    • 2022, Dave Clarke, “Velocipede”, in Northern Territory Literary Awards‎[2], pages 26-27:
      I sense a portent inflating / an unlikely fellowship forming / and yet as swiftly as communion effloresced, / they leave, / pedalling into the distance / on their restored velocipede.
  3. (intransitive, chemistry) Senses relating to chemistry.
    1. Of a substance: to change from being crystalline to powdery by losing water of crystallization.
      • 1758, [Pierre-Joseph] Macquer, “Of the Vitriolic Acid”, in Andrew Reid, transl., Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry. Translated from the French […] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, and J[ohn] Nourse, […], →OCLC, part I (Of Minerals), section I (Operations Performed on Saline Mineral Substances), process I (To Extract Vitriol from the Pyrites), page 212:
        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.
      • 1784, Torbern Bergman, “Of the Aerial Acid”, in Edmund Cullen, transl., Physical and Chemical Essays; Translated from the Original Latin […], volume I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, § VII (Aerated Vegetable Alkali), page 18:
        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: [...]
      • 1808, William Henry, “Boracic Acid”, in An Epitome of Chemistry, in Three Parts. […] From the Fourth English Edition: […], New York, N.Y.: Printed and sold by Collins and Perkins, […], →OCLC, part I (An Arranged Series of Experiments and Processes to be Performed by the Student of Chemistry), page 201:
        Sub-borate of soda crystallizes in prisms with six irregular sides. It effloresces in the air. It fuses when ignited; loses its water of crystallization; and leaves a glass, which is transparent when cold, and which is of great use in experiments with the blow-pipe.
      • 1850 March 30, Fr. Keller, “[Notices of Papers Contained in the Foreign Journals.] Method of Obtaining Metacetic Acid in Large Quantities.”, in Henry Watts, compiler, The Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London, volume III, number X, London, New York, N.Y.: Hippolyte Bailliere, […], published 1851, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 191:
        The baryta-salt dried up to a gummy mass, but after a while swelled up in cauliflower-like tufts, which effloresced and fell to pieces on exposure to the air.
      • 2000, Anthony L. L. Hunting, “Bath and Shower Products”, in Hilda Butler, editor, Poucher’s Perfumes, Cosmetics, and Soaps, 10th edition, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, section 4.4.1 (Ingredients), page 125:
        When exposed to air at ordinary temperatures it [disodium phosphate] effloresces, forming the less soluble heptahydrate.
    2. Of a salt: to seep through some material (bricks, concrete, earth, rock, etc.) in a dissolved state, and then crystallize on a surface in a powdery form.
      • 1790 January, “Foreign Literary Intelligence”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature (Series the Fifth), volume LXIX, London: Printed for A. Hamilton, […], →OCLC, page 101:
        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; [...]
      • 1809, William Nicholson, “SULPHATES”, in The British Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […], volume VI (S … Z), London: Printed by C[harles] Whittingham, […]; for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, column 1:
        It [sodium sulphate] exists likewise native in mineral springs, and sometimes it effloresces on the walls of old buildings.
      • 1813, “NITRUM”, in John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, Newton Bosworth [et al.], editors, Pantologia. A New Cyclopædia, […], volumes VIII (Mid–Ozo), London: […] G. Kearsley;  […], →OCLC, column 1:
        N. Cubicum. Fixed, when dissolved and evaporated, concreting into rhombic crystals. Found, though rarely, in caves with the last, efflorescing from the moist sides of walls.
      • 1904, W. Francis, “Salt, Abkári and Miscellaneous Revenue”, in Bellary (Madras District Gazetteers), Madras, Tamil Nadu: Printed by the superintendent, Government Press, →OCLC, page 177:
        The earth-salt was made in what were known as "modas," which were peculiar to the Ceded districts and were especially common in Bellary. [...] Salt-earth was collected in the places where it effloresced naturally in the dry months and taken to the moda on pack-buffaloes.
      • 1997, E[rhard] M. Winkler, “Stone Conservation on Buildings and Monuments”, in Stone in Architecture: Properties, Durability, 3rd revised and extended edition, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, section 13.3.5 (Waterglasses), page 268:
        Na carbonate, with limited solubility, dissolves only about 150g/l and therefore tends to effloresce, while the K carbonate dissolves ten times more (1100g/l), forming white efflorescence; [...]
    3. Of the surface of a material: to become covered with a powdery salt (as described in sense 3.2).
      • 1758, [Pierre-Joseph] Macquer, “Of the Vitriolic Acid”, in Andrew Reid, transl., Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry. Translated from the French […] In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, and J[ohn] Nourse, […], →OCLC, part I (Of Minerals), section I (Operations Performed on Saline Mineral Substances), process III (To Extract Alum from Aluminous Materials), page 220:
        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.
      • 1799, James Headrick, “On the Practicability, and Advantages, of Opening a Navigation between the Murray Firth at Inverness, and Loch Eil, at Fort William”, in Henry Mackenzie, editor, Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland. […], volume I, Edinburgh: Printed by C. Stewart, printer to the Society [i.e., the Highland Society of Scotland]; for T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, […], and William Creech, […], →OCLC, page 381:
        This ſtone is perpetually effloreſcing, and forming the ſalt called Sulphate of Iron: vulgarly, Copperas.
      • 2013, Kim H. Pries, Jon M. Quigley, “When Cost Improvement Goes Wrong”, in Reducing Process Costs with Lean, Six Sigma, and Value Engineering Techniques (An Auerbach Book), Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, section H (Reuse of Material), page 321:
        [W]e have seen aluminum parts exposed to magnesium chloride (a common road salt in the northern states and Canada) effloresce so badly they resembled a blossoming, metallic flower!

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

to come forth — see emerge
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Compare “effloresce, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1891; “effloresce, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Latin[edit]

Verb[edit]

efflōrēsce

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of efflōrēscō
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