Ossify

4 definitions found

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

  Ossify \Os"si*fy\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Ossified}; p. pr. & vb.
     n. {Ossifying}.] [L. os, ossis, bone + -fy: cf. F. ossifier.
     See {Osseous}.]
     1. (Physiol.) To form into bone; to change from a soft animal
        substance into bone, as by the deposition of lime salts.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Fig.): To harden; as, to ossify the heart. --Ruskin.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Ossify \Os"si*fy\, v. i. (Physiol.)
     To become bone; to change from a soft tissue to a hard bony
     tissue.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  ossify
       v 1: become bony; "The tissue ossified"
       2: make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify
          the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods";
          "slogans petrify our thinking" [syn: {rigidify}, {petrify}]
       3: cause to become hard and bony; "The disease ossified the
          tissue"
       [also: {ossified}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  18 Moby Thesaurus words for "ossify":
     anneal, brutalize, calcify, callous, case harden, cornify, firm,
     fossilize, harden, indurate, inure, lapidify, lithify, petrify,
     steel, temper, toughen, vitrify