calcify
/ˈkælsɪfaɪ/ verb
Forms calcifies calcifying calcified
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To make or become hard and stony by impregnating with calcium salts. “calcify tissue”
- verb (figuratively, by extension) To make or become rigid or inflexible; to ossify.
Antonyms
Etymology
From French calcifier, or from English calcium + -ify.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make stony or calcareous by the deposit or secretion of salts of lime.
- verb To become changed into a stony or calcareous condition, in lime is a principal ingredient, as in the formation of teeth.
Etymology [L. calx, calcis, lime + -fy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “calcify”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details