Definition of petrify Petrify

/pɛˈtɹʌfajˌ/ - [petrufay] - pet•ri•fy

We found 17 definitions of petrify from 6 different sources.

What does petrify mean?

Verb petrifies, petrifying, petrified
petrify - cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned; "The horror petrified his feelings"; "Fear petrified her thinking"
		blunt, deaden make less sharp; "blunt the knives"
petrify - make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods"; "slogans petrify our thinking"
		rigidify, ossify
		stiffen make stiff or stiffer; "Stiffen the cream by adding gelatine"
petrify - change into stone; "the wood petrified with time"
		lapidify
		fossilise, fossilize become mentally inflexible

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petrify (Verb)
To harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
petrify (Verb)
To produce rigidness akin to stone.
petrify (Verb)
To immobilize with fright.
petrify (Verb)
To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
petrify (Verb)
To become stony, callous, or obdurate.

petrify (v. t.)
To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance.
petrify (v. t.)
To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young.
petrify (v. i.)
To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
petrify (v. i.)
Fig.: To become stony, callous, or obdurate.

petrify
To harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
petrify
To immobilize with fright.
petrify
To become like stone, especially by petrifaction.

petrify
pet′ri-fī, v.t. to turn into stone: to make hard like a stone: to fix in amazement.—v.i. to become stone, or hard like stone:—pa.t. and pa.p. pet′rified.—n. Petres′cence.—adjs. Petres′cent, growing into or becoming stone; Petric′olous, inhabiting rocks.—n. Petrifac′tion, the act of turning into stone: the state of being turned into stone: that which is made stone: a fossil.—adjs. Petrifac′tive, Petrif′ic, changing animal or vegetable substances into stone; Pet′rifīable.—ns. Petrog′eny, the science of the origin of rocks; Pet′roglyph, a rock-carving.—adj. Petroglyph′ic.—ns. Petrog′lyphy, the art of writing on rocks or stones; Petrog′rapher, a student of petrography.—adjs. Petrograph′ic, -al.—adv. Petrograph′ically.—n. Petrog′raphy, the study of rocks: petrology.—adj. Petrolog′ical.—adv. Petrolog′ically.—ns. Petrol′ogist; Petrol′ogy, the science of the composition and classification of rocks.—adjs. Petrō′sal, of great hardness: petrous; Pē′trous, like stone: hard: rocky. [L. petra—Gr. petra, rock, L. facĕre, factum, to make.]