Mel"low (?), a. [Compar. Mellower (?); superl. Mellowest.] [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.

 

© Webster 1913.


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

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Mel"low, v. i.

To become mellow; as, ripe fruit soon mellows.

"Prosperity begins to mellow."

Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.

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