- to throw off in scales, splinters, etc.
- to remove the surface of (a bone, the skin, etc.) in scales or laminae.
- to throw off scales or flakes; peel off in thin fragments: The bark of some trees exfoliates.
- Geology.
- to split or swell into a scaly aggregate, as certain minerals when heated.
- to separate into rudely concentric layers or sheets, as certain rocks during weathering.
- to separate and come off in scales, as scaling skin or any structure separating in flakes.
- to wash (a part of the body) with a granular cosmetic preparation in order to remove dead cells from the skin's surface
- (of bark, skin, etc) to peel off in (layers, flakes, or scales)
- (of rocks or minerals) to shed the thin outermost layer because of weathering or heating
- (of some minerals, esp mica) to split or cause to split into thin flakes
