os|si|fy

os|si|fy «OS uh fy», transitive verb, intransitive verb, -fied, -fy|ing.

1. to change into bone; become bone: »

The soft parts of a baby's skull ossify as he grows older.

2. Figurative. to harden like bone; make or become fixed, hardened, or very conservative: »

Long-continued doubt…must in the end ossify the higher parts of the mind (R. H. Hutton).

╂[< Latin os, ossis bone + English -fy]