[n. of action f. CALCIFY (L. *calcific-āre); see prec. and -ATION; cf. F. calcification.] Conversion into lime; replacement of other matter by lime; the hardening of a structure, tissue, etc., by the deposit of salts of lime, as in the formation of teeth, and many forms of ‘petrifaction.’
1849–52. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., IV. 876/1. As calcification of the tooth progresses towards its base.
1854. Woodward, Mollusca, II. 229. The shells … differ from Rhynconella chiefly in the calcification of the oral supports.
b. concr. (the result of calcifying.)
1869. Nicholson, Zool., xxx. (1880), 289. A calcareous shell, formed by calcifications within the walls of the first three cephalic segments. Ibid. (1872), Palæont., 88. The sclerodermic coral … is an actual calcification of part of the tissues of the polype.
