verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To become wood. intransitive
2. 2
   convert into wood or cause to become woody wordnet
3. 3
   To develop woody tissue as a result of incrustation of lignin during secondary growth. intransitive
4. 4
   To become rigid or fixed, like something made of wood. broadly, intransitive
5. 5
   To turn into wood; to make ligneous. transitive

Etymology

From Latin līgnum (“wood”) + -ify.

Related phrases

secondary growth

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.