Petrify /(pĕt"rĭ*fī)/

imp. & p. p. Petrified; p. pr. & vb. n. Petrifying

1. To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance; as, petrified wood.

   A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves.

2. To make callous or obdurate; to transform, as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young.

   And petrify a genius to a dunce.

   A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition.

3. To paralyze, especially with fear; to stupefy; as, she was petrified by the sight of the bear in her tent.

   The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing.

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.