PETRIFY

petrify. Petrify, v. to change to stone, to become stone

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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. pétrifier. Cf. Parrot, Petrel, Pier.]] 1. 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. 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.