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. pétrifier. 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.