gorgonize

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Do you march to the beat of a different drummer? Discover
the origin of this term in our Dictionary of Allusions.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?allusion.htm&6
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The Word of the Day for March 26 is:

gorgonize   \GOR-guh-nyze\   verb 
     : to have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on : stupefy, 
petrify

Example sentence:
     The bus driver could gorgonize any unruly child with a 
single glance.

Did you know?
     The Gorgons (from the Greek adjective "gorgos," 
meaning "terrifying") were three winged female monsters in 
Greek mythology who had snakes for hair and the ability to turn 
anyone who looked at them into stone. The most notorious of the 
three, and their chief, was Medusa; when she was slain by the 
hero Perseus, her severed head retained the power of turning 
anyone who looked on it to stone. In modern parlance, to 
gorgonize someone is to make him or her feel (metaphorically) 
petrified, usually through an intimidating glance or gaze.