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petrify
6 dictionary results for: Petrify
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pet·ri·fy 
[pe-truh-fahy] Pronunciation Key verb, -fied, -fy·ing.
—Related forms
[pe-truh-fahy] Pronunciation Key verb, -fied, -fy·ing. –verb (used with object)
–verb (used without object)
| 1. | to convert into stone or a stony substance. |
| 2. | to benumb or paralyze with astonishment, horror, or other strong emotion: I was petrified with fear. |
| 3. | to make rigid or inert; harden; deaden: The tragedy in his life petrified his emotions. |
| 4. | to become petrified. |
—Related forms
pet·ri·fi·a·ble, adjective
pet·ri·fi·er, noun
—Synonyms 2. immobilize, dumbfound, daze.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| pet·ri·fy
(pět'rə-fī') Pronunciation Key
v. pet·ri·fied, pet·ri·fy·ing, pet·ri·fies v. tr.
v. intr. To become stony, especially by petrifaction. [Middle English petrifien, to harden, from Old French petrifier : Latin petra, rock (from Greek petrā; see per-2 in Indo-European roots) + Old French -fier, -fy.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
petrify
petrify
1594, from M.Fr. pétrifier "to make or become stone," from L. petra "rock" + -ficare, from facere "to make, do" (see factitious). Metaphoric sense of "paralyze with fear or shock" first recorded 1771.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| petrify | |
verb | |
| 1. | cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned; "The horror petrified his feelings"; "Fear petrified her thinking" |
| 2. | change into stone; "the wood petrified with time" [syn: lapidify] |
| 3. | make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods"; "slogans petrify our thinking" [syn: rigidify] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Petrify
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. p['e]trifier. Cf. Parrot, Petrel, Pier.]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. 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Petrify
Pet"ri*fy\, v. i. 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. --Dryden.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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