From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ossify \Os"si*fy\, verb (used without an object) (Physiol.) To become bone; to change from a soft tissue to a hard bony tissue.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Ossify \Os"si*fy\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Ossified}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Ossifying}.] [L. os, ossis, bone + -fy: cf. F. ossifier. See {Osseous}.]
1. (Physiol.) To form into bone; to change from a soft animal substance into bone, as by the deposition of lime salts.
2. (Fig.): To harden; as, to ossify the heart. --Ruskin.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
verb
1: become bony; "The tissue ossified"
2: make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; "rigidify the training schedule"; "ossified teaching methods"; "slogans petrify our thinking" [syn: {rigidify}, {petrify}]
3: cause to become hard and bony; "The disease ossified the tissue" [also: {ossified}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
18 Moby Thesaurus words for "ossify": anneal, brutalize, calcify, callous, case harden, cornify, firm, fossilize, harden, indurate, inure, lapidify, lithify, petrify, steel, temper, toughen, vitrify
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