mellow
/ˈmɛloʊ/ verb C2- To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
- To cause (food or drink, for example, cheese or wine, or its flavour) to become matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
- To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
- To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
- To cause (a person) to become calmer, gentler, and more understanding, particularly from age or experience. · The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.
- To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
- Followed by out: to relax (a person); in particular, to cause (a person) to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
- To mature and lose its harshness or sharpness.
He/she/it mellows · Past mellowed · Past participle mellowed · -ing form mellowing
Verb forms
- Base form
- mellow
- He/she/it
- mellows
- Past
- mellowed
- Past participle
- mellowed
- -ing form
- mellowing
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
“I’ve heard of you,” said he in a voice which was not quite English and not quite American, but was altogether mellow and pleasing.
Its windows looked east and west; through the west one, looking out on the back yard, came a flood of mellow June sunlight; but the east one, whence you got a glimpse of the bloom white cherry-trees in the left orchard and nodding, slender birches down in the hollow by the brook, was greened over by a tangle of vines.
The sun had set some time since, but the landscape was still clear in the mellow afterlight.
Something like a reluctant smile, rather rusty from long disuse, mellowed Marilla’s grim expression.
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