4 definitions
for Ossify
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
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 :
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 :
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 :
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
