[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

petrify \pet"rify\ pe^t"ri^fimac, v. t. imp.  p. p.
   petrified; p. pr.  vb. n. petrifying. l. petra rock,
   gr. pe`tra akin to pe`tros a stone + -fy: cf. f.
   p'etrifier. cf. parrot, petrel, pier.
   1. to convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone
      or stony substance; as, petrified wood.
      1913 webster

            a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves.
                                                  --kirwan.
      1913 webster

   2. to make callous or obdurate; to transform, as by
      petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. young. "petrifying
      accuracy." --sir w. scott.
      1913 webster

            and petrify a genius to a dunce.      --pope.
      1913 webster

            a hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to
            petrify your volition.                --g. eliot.
      1913 webster

   3. to paralyze, especially with fear; to stupefy; as, she was
      petrified by the sight of the bear in her tent.
      pjc

            the poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of
            what he was doing.                    --de quincey.
      1913 webster
see also:
petrified petrifying parrot petrel pier 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

petrify \pet"rify\, v. i.
   1. to become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter
      by calcareous deposits.
      1913 webster

   2. fig.: to become stony, callous, or obdurate.
      1913 webster

            like niobe we marble grow,
            and petrify with grief.               --dryden.
      1913 webster

[3] : WordNet (r) 2.0

petrify
     v 1: cause to become stone-like 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, ossify
     also: petrified
see also:
lapidify rigidify ossify petrified 

[4] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

62 moby thesaurus words for "petrify":
   alarm, amaze, anneal, appall, astonish, astound, awe, awestrike,
   bedaze, bedazzle, bemuse, benumb, bewilder, boggle, bowl down,
   bowl over, calcify, callous, case harden, confound, cornify,
   crystallize, daze, dazzle, disconcert, dismay, dumbfound,
   dumbfounder, firm, flabbergast, fossilize, freeze, frighten,
   harden, horrify, indurate, lapidify, lithify, numb, ossify,
   overwhelm, paralyze, perplex, scare, scare stiff, scare to death,
   shock, stagger, startle, steel, strike dead, strike dumb,
   strike terror into, strike with wonder, stun, stupefy, surprise,
   temper, terrify, toughen, turn to stone, vitrify

Petrify >> P Words
Petrify, definition of term: Petrify
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