gorgonize \GAWR-guh-nahyz\, verb:
To affect as a Gorgon; hypnotize; petrify.
Shorten it, then, to what is functional, direct and bluntly, derogatorily descriptive. Of his awful power to horrify, to gorgonize, to chill.
-- Christopher Rush,"Last Lesson of the Afternoon"
Mortimo Planno could gorgonize foes with a stony stare, but his deep baritone voice was seductive and unexpectedly disarming.
-- Colin Grant, "The Natural Mystics"
Gorgonize is the verbification of an ancient Greek mythological figure. The Gorgons were three sister monsters commonly represented as having snakes for hair, wings, and brazen claws. Their eyes turned anyone looking into them to stone. Thus to gorgonize someone is to turn them into stone.
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