petrify
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]From Middle French pétrifier, from Medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra (“rock”), from Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra, “rock”) + -ficāre, from facere (“do, make”), equivalent to petro- + -ify.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɛ.tɹəˌfaɪ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Verb
[edit]
petrify (third-person singular simple present petrifies, present participle petrifying, simple past and past participle petrified)
- (transitive) To turn to stone: to harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
- 1799, Richard Kirwan, Geological Essays:
- a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves
- To produce rigidity akin to stone.
- To immobilize with fright.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:frighten
- (intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
- (intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.
- 1685, John Dryden, Threnodia Augustalis:
- Like Niobe we marble grow, / And petrify with grief.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Result”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 233:
- Hopes, feelings, and passion, petrify one after another; the crust of experience soon hardens over the hidden past; and who, looking on the levelled and subdued exterior, could dream of the wreck and ravage that lies below?
- (transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.
- 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
- petrify a genius to a dunce
- 1874, George Eliot, letter to Mrs. Ponsonby:
- A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition.
Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to harden organic matter
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to produce rigidity akin to stone
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to immobilize with fright
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to become stone, or of a stony hardness
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to become stony, callous, or obdurate
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to make callous or obdurate; to transform as by petrification
See also
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English terms prefixed with petro-
- English terms suffixed with -ify
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Fear