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Webster 1913 Edition
Fossilize
Fos′sil-ize
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fossilized
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fossilizing
.] [Cf. F.
fossiliser
.] 1.
To convert into a fossil; to petrify;
as, to
. fossilize
bones or wood2.
To cause to become antiquated, rigid, or fixed, as by fossilization; to mummify; to deaden.
Ten layers of birthdays on a woman’s head
Are apt to
Are apt to
fossilize
her girlish mirth. Mrs. Browning.
Fos′sil-ize
,Verb.
I.
1.
To become fossil.
2.
To become antiquated, rigid, or fixed, beyond the influence of change or progress.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fossilize
FOS'SILIZE
,Verb.
T.
FOS'SILIZE
,Verb.
I.
Definition 2024
fossilize
fossilize
English
Alternative forms
Verb
fossilize (third-person singular simple present fossilizes, present participle fossilizing, simple past and past participle fossilized)
- (transitive) to make into a fossil
- 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
- Most of the booths had been scooped clean by the scalpel-sharp corner of the glacier in the crash. Three remained. Two of them were punctured and, inside, the once-human occupants had been fossilized into the walls by centuries upon centuries of patient ice.
- 1989, Grant Naylor, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
- (intransitive) to become a fossil
- (figuratively, by extension, intransitive) to become inflexible or outmoded
- (figuratively, by extension, transitive) To make antiquated, rigid, or fixed; to deaden.
- Elizabeth Browning
- Ten layers of birthdays on a woman's head / Are apt to fossilize her girlish mirth.
- Elizabeth Browning
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
to make into fossil
|
to become a fossil
|