Category:Mellow

Mel"low, a. [Compar. Mellower; superl. Mellowest.] Etym: [OE. melwe; cf. AS. mearu soft, D. murw, Prov. G. mollig soft, D. malsch, and E. meal flour.]

1. Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp; as, a mellow apple.

2. Hence: (a) Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid; as, a mellow soil. "Mellow glebe." Drayton (b) Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued; soft; rich; delicate; -- said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc. "The mellow horn." Wordsworth. "The mellow-tasted Burgundy." Thomson. The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues Heaven with all freaks of light. Percival.

3. Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial. May health return to mellow age. Wordsworth. As merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound. W. Irving.

4. Warmed by liquor; slightly intoxicated. Addison.

mellow Mel"low, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mellowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Mellowing.]

Defn: To make mellow. Shak. If the Weather prove frosty to mellow it [the ground], they do not plow it again till April. Mortimer. The fervor of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age. J. C. Shairp.

mellow Mel"low, v. i.

Defn: To become mellow; as, ripe fruit soon mellows. "Prosperity begins to mellow." Shak.