fossilizev.

1794 J. Hunter in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 84 407 Bones that are fossilized become so in the medium in which they were deposited at the animal's death.

1854 F. C. Bakewell Geol. 32 ‘Petrifying wells’ do not, however, fossilize the things put into them.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 229 There is much more likelihood that the remains of animals..should be fossilized.

1923 E. W. Berry Tree Ancestors iii. 10 It might seem that but few relics of the present forests are being fossilized.

1973 Nature 8 June 342/1 The date of the appearance of marine grasses is not traceable by palynology because they produce pollen without exine, and so are not fossilized.

1997 A. M. Jones Quiet Place of Violence i. iii. 20 At one time, the cretaceous sea made an Everglades-like swamp out of most of this country, fossilizing creatures perfectly.

1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Fossilize, to become or be changed into a fossil.

1829 Enigmatical Entertainer for 1830 117 If the fossilized bones so frequently met with belong to antediluvian animals cotemporary with the race of Adam, human fossilized bones would either have been found, or they will not fossilize.

1925 Cent. Mag. Jan. 340/1 It dies, mummifies, fossilizes, and when we excavate it..there remains only a terrifying skeleton with a satanic grin.

1993 Sci. Amer. Nov. 9/2 Many scientists have assumed that insects do not fossilize well.

2004 R. Dawkins Ancestor's Tale 145 The deep sea Foraminifera (protozoa in tiny shells which fossilise in enormous numbers and are therefore much used by geologists as indicator species).

1845 C. G. F. Gore Self I. 14 If condemned to fossilize at the castle,..[I] will not answer for resisting my inclination to hire incendiaries..and put an end to my sufferings.

1862 Atlantic Monthly July 56/2 The ideas of military men solidify and fossilize so fast.

1888 Co-operative News 2 June 550 If it is to flourish, and not fossilize.

1910 Times 14 May 7/4 No wonder that the woman engaged in such work is tempted to turn a deaf ear to the dictates of her finer feeling and fossilize into a cold and rather hard personality.

1981 B. Friel Translations in Sel. Plays (1984) 445 We must never cease renewing those images; because once we do, we fossilize.

2004 R. Kurson Shadow Divers xiii. 299 Chatterton's marriage continued to fossilize.

1848 Southern Literary Messenger Oct. 602/1 They want men..whose prejudices have not become fossilized.

1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh viii. 343 Ten layers of birthdays on a woman's head, Are apt to fossilise her girlish mirth.

1862 R. H. Patterson Ess. Hist. & Art 98 Poetry—which last century became temporarily fossilised from a slavish worship..of antiquated models.

1877 A. B. Edwards Thousand Miles up Nile iv. 100 Sakkarah fossilises the name of Sokari, one of the special denominations of..Osiris.

1914 Times 10 Jan. 9/5 Though we have no wish to fossilize the language, we are of opinion that ill rather than good will come of misspelling the root forms of Latin derivatives.

1992 National Trust Mag. Spring 27/2 The Trust..does not try to fossilise the countryside: it has won awards for new, workable barns in the Lake District.

2001 B. Ehrenreich Nickel & Dimed (2002) i. 47 I take table 24 their reheated main courses, which they immediately reject as either too cold or fossilized by the microwave.