v. Phys. [f. L. calc(i)- lime + -FY; on the type of a L. *calci-ficāre, F. calcifier.]
1. trans. To convert into lime; to replace other matter by lime; to harden by the deposit of lime.
1854. Woodward, Mollusca (1856), 42. Each layer was successively calcified … and thrown off by the mantle to unite with those previously formed.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. iii. 97. The stones are gradually dissolved and serve to calcify and harden the new skin.
2. intr. To become calcified; see prec.
1859. J. Tomes, Dent. Surg. (1873), 3. The edges of the front teeth first assume their full dimensions in the form of pulp, and then calcify.
1876. trans. Wagner’s Gen. Pathol., 259. The fibrin calcifies, becoming a fixed, continuous stone-like mass.
Hence Calcified ppl. a.; Calcifying vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 116/1. The chorion of the ova is generally thin or coriaceous, seldom calcified or hard. Ibid., II. 381/2. The calcifying fluid from which the shell is formed.
1875. Blake, Zool., 233. The calcifying processes continue to deposit shelly material.
1880. Günther, Fishes, 315. Covered with calcified papillæ.
