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petrify |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Petrify \Pet"ri*fy\, v. i. 1. To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits. 2. Fig.: To become stony, callous, or obdurate. Like Niobe we marble grow, And petrify with grief. --Dryden. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Petrify \Pet"ri*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Petrified}; p. pr & vb n. {Petrifying}.] [L. petra rock, Gr ? (akin to ? a stone) + -fy: cf F. p['e]trifier. Cf {Parrot}, {Petrel}, {Pier}.] 1. To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance. A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. --Kirwan. 2. To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as to petrify the heart. Young. ``Petrifying accuracy.'' --Sir W. Scott. And petrify a genius to a dunce. --Pope. The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing --De Quincey. A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition. --G. Eliot. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: petrify v 1: cause to become stone-like or stiff; "The horror petrified his feelings"; "Fear petrified her thinking" 2: change into stone; "the wood petrified with time" [syn: {lapidify}]
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