a. and sb. ? Obs. [ad. L. lapidescent-em, pres. pple. of lapidescĕre to become stony, f. lapid-, lapis stone.] a. adj. That is in process of becoming stone; having a tendency to solidify into stone. Said chiefly of ‘petrifying’ waters and the salts dissolved or suspended in them. b. sb. A ‘lapidescent’ substance.
1644. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 77. The drops meeting with some lapidescent matter, it converts them into a hard stone. Ibid. (1675), Terra (1676), 42. Worm-casts hardened by the air and a certain lapidescent succus, or spirit, which it meets with.
1694. Salmon, Bate’s Dispens. (1713), 62/2. Whence the Stone and Gravel, and the lapidescent Concretions in the Gout are produc’d.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Lapidescent Waters or Springs.
176[?]. Ellis, in Phil. Trans., LVII. 406. All of them are very distinct … from all vegetables, on account of their lapidescent substance.
1811. K. Macleay, Spar Cave, 62. This lapidescent process is perpetually going forward.
1828–97. Webster, Lapidescent, sb., Any substance which has the quality of petrifying a body.
