Ossifying

os·si·fy  (s-f)

v. os·si·fied, os·si·fy·ing, os·si·fies

v.intr.

1. To change into bone; become bony.

2. To become set in a rigidly conventional pattern: "The central ideas of liberalism have ossified" (Jeffrey Hart).

v.tr.

1. To convert (a membrane or cartilage, for example) into bone.

2. To mold into a rigidly conventional pattern.

---

[Latin os, oss-, bone; see ost- in Indo-European roots + -fy.]

---

os·sific (-sfk) adj.