silicify

American  

[suh-lis-uh-fahy] / səˈlɪs əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with or without object)

silicified, silicifying

1. to convert or be converted into silica.

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silicify British  

/ sɪˈlɪsɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to convert or be converted into silica

   silicified wood

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Other Word Forms

• silicification
  noun
• unsilicified
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of silicify

First recorded in 1820–30; silic(a) + -ify

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

silicify silicified

This material, as is well known, is very liable to disintegrate, and the remedy is to silicify it.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 426 Volume 17, New Series, February 28, 1852 by Chambers, William

These specimens were, in general, silicified: but the outer parts came off in soft flakes resembling rotten bark, being equally pliant, although they felt gritty, like sand, between the teeth.

From Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia by Mitchell, Thomas

Between the loam and the Tertiary formation there is usually a deposit of stratified sand and gravel, containing large fragments of silicified corals and the wreck of older Palaeozoic rocks.

From The Antiquity of Man by Lyell, Charles, Sir

Organic remains have sometimes suffered a singular transformation, as for 176 example, where shells, corals, and wood are silicified, their calcareous or ligneous matter having been replaced by nearly pure silica.

From Principles of Geology or, The Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants Considered as Illustrative of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

Among the remarkable fossils of the Rothliegendes, or lowest part of the Permian in Saxony and Bohemia, are the silicified trunks of tree-ferns called generically Psaronius.

From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

At some points the limestone has been dolomitized; near Bonsall it has been converted into a granular silicified rock.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 2 "Demijohn" to "Destructor" by Various