mellow
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɛləʊ/
ipa: /ˈmɛloʊ/
rhymes: -ɛləʊ
Forms: form: mellows
form: mellowing
form: mellowed
form: mellowed
Etymology: The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly:
* from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms], from Old English melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or
* a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms], from Old English meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; callow”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”).
The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective. The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective.
Cognates
* Dutch murw (“tender”)
* German mürbe (“soft, tender”)
* German Low German möör (“tender”)
* Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”) (Icelandic meyr (“tender”))
* Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”)
* West Frisian murf (“tender”)
Senses: examples: text: Then Olives, ground in Mills, their fatneſs boaſt, / And Winter Fruits are mellow'd by the Froſt.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 94:
text: As time improves the grape's authentic juice, / Mellows and makes the ſpeech more fit for uſe, / And claims a rev'rence in its ſhort'ning day, / That 'tis an honour and a joy to pay.
ref: 1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 244:
text: Ever since we last saw her, in the interval between the spring and the autumn, the year had ripened the youth of the maiden, as it had mellowed the fruits of the earth; […]
ref: 1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book III (The House of Godwin), page 218:
glosses: To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
glosses: To cause (food or drink, for example, cheese or wine, or its flavour) to become matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
examples: text: This City is built of white Sun-burnt brickes, is watered with a ſmall ſtreame, which runs in two parts through the Towne, and meloes moſt of the Gardens and Groues within her, whereby ſhee yeelds a thankfull tribute of ſundry fruits.
ref: 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Tyroan”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 115:
text: Having therefore made choice of ſome fit place of Ground, […] let it be Broken up the Winter before you ſow, to mellow it, eſpecially if it be a Clay, and then the furrow would be made deeper; […]
ref: 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter II. Of the Seminary.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 6:
qualifier: archaic except British
glosses: To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
examples: text: VVas thought-exceeding glorification, ſuch a cloyance and cumber vnto me, that I muſt leaue it: as Archeſilaus ouer-melodied, and too-much melovved & ſugred with ſvveet tunes, turned them aſide, and cauſed his ears to be nevv reliſhed vvith harſh ſovver and vnſauory ſounds?
ref: 1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 16, verso:
text: The page was eaſily mellowd with his attractive eloquence, as what heart of adamant, or encloſed in a crocodyles ſkin (which no yron will pierce) that hath the power to withſtand the Mercurian heavenly charme of hys rhetorique?
ref: 1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), [London: s.n., 1870], →OCLC, page 106:
text: For time ſhall with his ready pencil ſtand; / Retouch your figures with his ripening hand; / Mellow your colors, and imbrown the teint; / Add every grace, which time alone can grant; / To future ages ſhall your fame convey, / And give more beauties than he takes away.
ref: a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Epistle the Fourteenth. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, Principal Painter to His Majesty.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 201:
text: [B]y the prevalence of fanaticiſm, a gloomy and ſullen diſpoſition eſtabliſhed itſelf among the people; a ſpirit, obſtinate and dangerous; independent and diſorderly; animated equally with a contempt of authority, and a hatred to every other mode of religion, particularly to the catholic. In order to mellow these humours, James [VI and I] endeavoured to infuſe a ſmall tincture of ceremony into the national worſhip, and to introduce ſuch rites as might, in ſome degree, occupy the mind, and pleaſe the ſenſes, without departing too far from that ſimplicity, by which the reformation was diſtinguiſhed.
ref: 1754, David Hume, “[James I.] Chapter III.”, in The History of Great Britain, under the House of Stuart, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 54:
text: Ever, as on they bore, more loud / And louder rung the pibroch proud. / At first the sounds, by distance tame, / Mellowed along the waters came, / And, lingering long by cape and bay, / Wailed every harsher note away; […]
ref: 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto II. The Island.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 67:
text: [T]ime had mellowed the marble to the colour of honey, so that unconsciously one thought of the bees of Hymettus, and softened their outlines.
ref: 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CVI, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 557:
glosses: To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
examples: text: The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.
glosses: To cause (a person) to become calmer, gentler, and more understanding, particularly from age or experience.
examples: text: In the course of the day [Manuel] Lisa undertook to tamper with the faith of Pierre Dorion [Jr.], and, inviting him on board of his boat, regaled him with his favorite whiskey. When he thought him sufficiently mellowed, he proposed to him to quit the service of his new employers and return to his old allegiance.
ref: 1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter XIX, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, pages 204–205:
text: He found the bailiff riding by the farm, / And, talking from the point, he drew him in, / And there he mellow'd all his heart with ale, / Until they closed a bargain, hand in hand.
ref: 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “The Brook; an Idyl”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 109:
qualifier: chiefly passive voice
glosses: To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
glosses: Followed by out: to relax (a person); in particular, to cause (a person) to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
qualifier: or its flavour
glosses: To mature and lose its harshness or sharpness.
raw_tags: of food or drink
qualifier: archaic except British
glosses: To be rendered soft and suitable for planting in.
raw_tags: of soil
examples: text: So now proſperitie begins to mellow / And drop into the rotten mouth of Death: […]
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 77:
text: [T]ill death us lay / To ripe and mellow, here we're stubborn clay.
ref: a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “On Himself”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume VI, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 560:
text: The Bannana's [taste] is no leſſe dainty: the tree mounts not high, but ſpreads in a moſt gracefull poſture: the fruit is long, not unlike a Soſſage in ſhape, in taſt moſt excellent: they ripen though you crop them immaturely; and from a dark-greene, mellow into a flaming yellow: […]
ref: 1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book III, page 297:
text: The broad sun set, but not with lingering sweep, / As in the North he mellows o'er the deep, / But fiery, full and fierce, as if he left / The world forever, earth of light bereft, […]
ref: 1823, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in The Island, or Christian and His Comrades, London: […] John Hunt, […], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 36, lines 360–363:
text: The very furniture of the room seemed to mellow and deepen in its tone; the ceiling and walls looked blacker and more highly polished, the curtains of a ruddier red; the fire burnt clear and high, and the crickets in the hearth-stone chirped with a more than wonted satisfaction.
ref: 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 11.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 297:
glosses: To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.
glosses: To relax; in particular, to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
raw_tags: followed by out
of a person
Derived terms: word: if it's yellow let it mellow
word: mellowed
word: mellower
word: mellowing
word: mellow out
word: unmellowed