English Dictionary

fossilize

/ˈfɒs.ɪl.aɪz/

verb

(transitive) to make into a fossil / (intransitive) to become a fossil / (figuratively, by extension, intransitive) To become inflexible or outmoded.

The ancient tree was fossilized over millions of years.

意味（1）

(transitive) to make into a fossil

Most of the booths had been scooped clean by the scalpel-sharp corner of the glacier in the crash. Three remained. Two of them were punctured and, inside, the once-human occupants had been fossilized into the walls by centuries upon centuries of patient ice.

意味（2）

(intransitive) to become a fossil

意味（3）

(figuratively, by extension, intransitive) To become inflexible or outmoded.

I was getting fossilised myself, but of late my stock of ideas has been very much enlarged.

意味（4）

(figuratively, by extension, transitive) To make antiquated, rigid, or fixed; to deaden.

Ten layers of birthdays on a woman's head / Are apt to fossilize her girlish mirth.