ossify

Verb

1. To transform (or cause to transform) from a softer animal substance into bone; particularly the processes of growth in humans and animals.
   • […], nor do all bones of the same skeleton ossify during the samе period of time. - 1884, Arthur C. Cole, Studies in Microscopical Science, page 35:

   Antonyms: deossify

   Coordinate Terms: chondrify

2. To become (or cause to become) inflexible and rigid in habits or opinions.
   • Before long, the entire organization ossifies. - 1996, Peter Schwartz, The Art of the Long View, →ISBN, page 96:
   • Possession of absolute knowledge would ossify the human spirit, quenching human creativity; - 2006, Michael S. Jones, Metaphysics of Religion: Lucian Blaga and Contemporary Philosophy, →ISBN, page 79:

   Synonyms: harden

3. To grow (or cause to grow) formulaic and permanent.
   • This accidental repartition gets repeated, develops advantages of its own, and gradually ossifies into a systematic division of labour. - 1886, Samuel Moore, “Chapter 14”, in Capital, volume I, translation of original...
   • Now, in turn, we apply a revolutionary critique that […] ossifies into a rhetoric to become "the monstrous Latin of a monstrous church." - 2001, Kevin O'Neill, David Suchoff, The Wisdom of Love, translation of original...
   • [T]he charge threatens to ossify into conventional wisdom before the movie's audience can get to theaters to see how misguided it is. - 2005 December 20, Michelle Goldberg, “The war on 'Munich'”, in Salon.com, archived...
4. To calcify.
   • The cartilages become brittle, and in many instances are ossified; the ligaments are rendered harder, but are less capable of resisting extension. - 1850, Roxey Ann Caplin, “Chapter X”, in Health and Beauty: