2. Fig.: Obduracy; callousness. Hallywell.
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. 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. 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. Petrine
(Pe"trine) a. Of or pertaining to St.Peter; as, the Petrine Epistles.
Petro-
(Pet"ro-) A combining form from Gr. a rock, a stone; as, petrology, petroglyphic.
Petrogale
(Pe*trog"a*le) n. [NL., fr. Gr. a rock + a weasel.] (Zoöl.) Any Australian kangaroo of the
genus Petrogale, as the rock wallaby (P. penicillata).
Petroglyphic
(Pet`ro*glyph"ic) a. Of or pertaining to petroglyphy.
Petroglyphy
(Pe*trog"ly*phy) n. [Petro + Gr. to carve.] The art or operation of carving figures or inscriptions
on rock or stone.
Petrographic
(Pet`ro*graph"ic Pet`ro*graph"ic*al) a. Pertaining to petrography.
Petrography
(Pe*trog"ra*phy) n. [Petro + -graphy.]
1. The art of writing on stone.
2. The scientific description of rocks; that department of science which investigates the constitution of
rocks; petrology.
Petrohyoid
(Pet`ro*hy"oid) a. [Petro + hyoid.] (Anat.) Pertaining to petrous, oe periotic, portion of the
skull and the hyoid arch; as, the petrohyoid muscles of the frog.
Petrol
(Pe*trol") n. Petroleum. [R.]
Petrolatum
(Pet`ro*la"tum) n. (Chem. & Pharm.) A semisolid unctuous substance, neutral, and without
taste or odor, derived from petroleum by distilling off the lighter portions and purifying the residue. It
is a yellowish, fatlike mass, transparent in thin layers, and somewhat fluorescent. It is used as a bland
protective dressing, and as a substitute for fatty materials in ointments. U. S. Pharm.
