PET'RIFY, verb transitive [Latin petra; Gr. a stone or rock, and facio, to make.] 1. To convert to stone or stony substance; as an animal or vegetable substance. North of Quito, there is a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. 2. To make callous or obdurate; as, to petrify the heart. And petrify a genius to a dunce. 3. To fix; as, to petrify one with astonishment. PET'RIFY, verb intransitive To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as animal or vegetable substances by means of calcarious or other depositions in their cavities.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI