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ossify

[os-uh-fahy]
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verb (used with object), os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing.
  1. to convert into or cause to harden like bone.
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verb (used without object), os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing.
  1. to become bone or harden like bone.
  2. to become rigid or inflexible in habits, attitudes, opinions, etc.: a young man who began to ossify right after college.
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Origin of ossify

1705–15; < Latin ossi- (stem of os) bone + -fy
Related formsos·si·fi·er, nounun·os·si·fy·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for ossify

stiffen, thicken, indurate, freeze, harden, congeal, solidify, petrify, fossilize

Examples from the Web for ossify

Historical Examples of ossify

  • There is a general growth to be observed, and the bones are beginning to ossify.

    Embryology

    Gerald R. Leighton

  • The first vertebra to ossify is the second or third cervical, and the ossification gradually extends to those behind.

  • The mentomecklians do not ossify until approximately the same time that the quadratojugal appears in the upper jaw.

  • Convictions harden and grow, and differences magnify and ossify as the controversy progresses.

    Lord Randolph Churchill

    Winston Spencer Churchill

  • The latter will always take care of themselves—the danger being that they rapidly tend to ossify us.

British Dictionary definitions for ossify

ossify

verb -fies, -fying or -fied
  1. to convert or be converted into bone
  2. (intr) (of habits, attitudes, etc) to become inflexible
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Derived Formsossifier, noun

Word Origin for ossify

C18: from French ossifier, from Latin os bone + facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for ossify

v.

1713, "to turn into bone," a back-formation from ossification, or else modeled on French ossifier (18c.) and formed from Latin os (genitive ossis) "bone" (see osseous) + -fy. Figurative sense is from 1858. Related: Ossified; ossifying.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
ossify in Medicine

ossify

(ŏs′ə-fī′)
v.
  1. To change into bone.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.