| 释义 |
▪ I. ˈpetrifying, vbl. n.
[f. prec. + -ing1.]
The action of petrify v.; also concr. = petrifaction 2.
1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 214 Rock-Works, Congelations, Petrifyings, and Shell-Works.
▪ II. ˈpetrifying, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That petrifies (see the verb); petrifactive.
1652French (title) The Yorkshire Spaw..the Dropping, or Petrifying Well. 1660R. Coke Justice Vind. 21 Some is of a petrifying quality. 1705J. Taylor Journ. Edenborough (1903) 48 The water is of a petrifying nature and as it falls turns the moss into stone. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 170 Such springs are vulgarly called petrifying springs..all that such springs are able to do is to simply cover the objects which receive the water with a crust of carbonate of lime.
b. fig.
1667Decay Chr. Piety xvii. ⁋6 A kind of petrifying crime, which induces that induration, to which the fearful expectation of wrath is consequent. 1800E. Hervey Mourtray Fam. II. 112 She seemed..surprised to see Mrs. Mourtray, to whom, with petrifying civility, she made a few speeches on her recovery. 1814Mrs. J. West Alicia de Lacy IV. 249 That petrifying horror which, by benumbing every faculty, renders them all incapable of useful exertion. |