noun fig.: hardness; callousness; obduracy.
2. petrifaction ·noun the state or condition of being petrified.
3. petrifaction ·noun that which is petrified; popularly, a body incrusted with stony matter; an incrustation.
4. petrifaction ·noun the process of petrifying, or changing into stone; conversion of any organic matter (animal or vegetable) into stone, or a substance of stony hardness.