To convert to stone or stony substance; as an animal or vegetable substance. North of Quito, there is a river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves.

To make callous or obdurate; as, to petrify the heart. And petrify a genius to a dunce.

To fix; as, to petrify one with astonishment.

To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as animal or vegetable substances by means of calcarious or other depositions in their cavities.