petrify

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French pétrifier, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  petrificare, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin petra (“rock”) + -ficare from facere (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/

Verb

petrified tree Kirstenbosch Cape Town

petrify (third-person singular simple present petrifies, present participle petrifying, simple past and past participle petrified)

1. To harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
   • (Can we date this quote by Kirwan and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves

2. To produce rigidity akin to stone.
3. To immobilize with fright.
4. (intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
5. (intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.
   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Like Niobe we marble grow, / And petrify with grief.

6. (transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Pope and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     petrify a genius to a dunce

   • (Can we date this quote by George Eliot and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:frighten

Related terms

• petrifaction

Translations

to harden organic matter

• Asturian: petrificar
• Catalan: petrificar (ca)
• Danish: forstene
• Dutch: verstenen (nl)
• Finnish: kivettää
• French: pétrifier (fr)
• Galician: petrificar
• German: versteinern (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: πωρόω (pōróō)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pietrificare (it)
• Japanese: 石化する (sekika suru)
• Portuguese: petrificar (pt)
• Romanian: petrifica (ro)
• Russian: превраща́ть в ка́мень impf (prevraščátʹ v kámenʹ)
• Spanish: petrificar (es)
• Swedish: förstena (sv)

to produce rigidity akin to stone

• Catalan: petrificar (ca)
• Danish: forstene
• Dutch: verstenen (nl)
• Finnish: kovettaa (fi)
• French: pétrifier (fr)
• German: versteinern (de)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek:

  Ancient: πωρόω (pōróō)

• Portuguese: petrificar (pt)
• Romanian: petrifica (ro)
• Swedish: förstena (sv)

to immobilize with fright

• Catalan: petrificar (ca)
• Danish: forstene
• Dutch: verstenen (nl), verstarren (nl)
• Finnish: kivettää, jähmettää (fi)
• French: pétrifier (fr)
• Galician: petrificar
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: erstarren (de)
• Portuguese: petrificar (pt)
• Romanian: petrifica (ro), împietri (ro)
• Spanish: petrificar (es)
• Swedish: förstena (sv)
• Tagalog: nanigas (nanigas)

to become stone, or of a stony hardness

• Finnish: kivettyä (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

to become stony, callous, or obdurate

• Finnish: kovettua (fi)
• Russian: каменеть (ru) impf (kamenetʹ)

to make callous or obdurate; to transform as by petrification

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使发呆

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: jähmettää (fi), kovettaa (fi)