verb trans
(usu in passive) to paralyse (somebody) with fear, amazement, or awe
to convert (something) into stone or a hard or stony substance
to convert (something) into stone or something hard like stone
while he munches a petrified sandwich and waits for the train — Mark Twain
to make (somebody or something) lifeless or inactive
to become stone or of stony hardness or rigidity
petrifaction noun
petrification noun
[early French petrifier from medieval Latin petrificāre, from Latin petra rock, from Greek]