1.To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance; as, petrified wood. "A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves."
2.To make callous or obdurate; to transform, as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young. "Petrifying accuracy." "And petrify a genius to a dunce." "A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition."
3.To paralyze, especially with fear; to stupefy; as, she was petrified by the sight of the bear in her tent. "The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing."
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