1. (

• petrify ,

) cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned from fright; "The horror petrified his feelings"; "Fear petrified her thinking" ;

2. (

• lapidify ,
• petrify

) change into stone; "the wood petrified with time" ;

3. (

• rigidify ,
• ossify ,
• petrify ,

) make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods"; "slogans petrify our thinking" ;

1. (

• petrifying

) paralyzing with terror ;