The expression ācoffee breakā was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
petrify
(verb) cause to become stonelike or stiff or dazed and stunned from fright; āThe horror petrified his feelingsā; āFear petrified her thinkingā
rigidify, ossify, petrify
(verb) make rigid and set into a conventional pattern; ārigidify the training scheduleā; āossified teaching methodsā; āslogans petrify our thinkingā
lapidify, petrify
(verb) change into stone; āthe wood petrified with timeā
Source: WordNet® 3.1
petrify (third-person singular simple present petrifies, present participle petrifying, simple past and past participle petrified)
To harden organic matter by permeating with water and depositing dissolved minerals.
To produce rigidity akin to stone.
To immobilize with fright.
(intransitive) To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
(intransitive, figurative) To become stony, callous, or obdurate.
(transitive, figurative) To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrification.
• See also frighten
Source: Wiktionary
Pet"ri*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petrified; p. pr. & vb. n. Petrifying.] Etym: [L. petra rock, Gr. -fy: cf. F. pƩtrifier. Cf. Parrot, Petrel, Pier.]
1. To convert, as any animal or vegetable matter, into stone or stony substance. A river that petrifies any sort of wood or leaves. Kirwan.
2. To make callous or obdurate; to stupefy; to paralyze; to transform; as by petrifaction; as, to petrify the heart. Young. "Petrifying accuracy." Sir W. Scott. And petrify a genius to a dunce. Pope. The poor, petrified journeyman, quite unconscious of what he was doing. De Quincey. A hideous fatalism, which ought, logically, to petrify your volition. G. Eliot.
Pet"ri*fy, v. i.
1. To become stone, or of a stony hardness, as organic matter by calcareous deposits.
2. Fig.: To become stony, callous, or obdurate. Like Niobe we marble grow, And petrify with grief. Dryden.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
27 June 2025
(adjective) having four equal sides and four right angles or forming a right angle; āa square peg in a round holeā; āa square cornerā
The expression ācoffee breakā was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.