Etymology

The adjective is derived from Late Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#MELLOW melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms];^[1] further etymology uncertain, possibly:^[2]

• from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms],^[3][4] from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Old English#MELLOW melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#MELLOW *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#MELLOW *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or
• a variant of Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#MELLOW merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms],^[5] from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Old English#MELLOW meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; callow”) [and other forms], from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#MELLOW *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European#MELLOWCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#MELLOW *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”).^[6]

The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective.^[7][8] The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective.^[9]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛləʊ/Category:English 2-syllable words#MELLOWCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MELLOW
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛloʊ/Category:English 2-syllable words#MELLOWCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#MELLOW

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#MELLOW
• Rhymes: -ɛləʊCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛləʊ#MELLOWCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛləʊ/2 syllables#MELLOW
• Hyphenation: mel‧low

Adjective

mellow (comparative mellower or more mellow, superlative mellowest or most mellow)Category:English lemmas#MELLOWCategory:English adjectives#MELLOWCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MELLOWCategory:Pages with entries#MELLOWCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MELLOW

1. (also figuratively, of fruit) Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

   Synonyms: mellowy; see also Thesaurus:soft

   a mellow appleCategory:English terms with usage examples#MELLOW

   • 1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […], →OCLC, signature Dii, verso:

     How can thoſe men call home the loſt ſheepe that are gone aſtray, comming into the Miniſtery before their wits be ſtaid. This greene fruite, béeing gathered before it be ripe, is rotten before it be mellow, and infected with Sciſmes before they haue learned to bridle their affections, […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vi], page 24, column 2:

     Com[inius]. Hee'l ſhake your Rome about your eares. / Mene[nius]. As Hercules did ſhake downe Mellow Fruite: You haue made faire worke.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, page 42:

     A little longer, yet a little longer, / And Nature drops him down, without your Sin, / Like mellow Fruit, without a Winter Storm.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Final”, in Middlemarch […], volume IV, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VIII, page 361:

     But Mary secretly rejoiced that the youngest of the three was very much what her father must have been when he wore a round jacket, and showed a marvellous nicety of aim in playing at marbles, or in throwing stones to bring down the mellow pears.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1892, Alfred Tennyson, The Foresters: Robin Hood and Maid Marian, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 3:

     Ay, how fine they be in their liveries, and each of 'em as full of meat as an egg, and as sleek and as round about as a mellow codlin.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

2. (also figuratively, of food or drink, or its flavour) Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
   • 1730, James Thomson, “Autumn. Inscribed to the Right Honourable Arthur Onslow, Esq; Speaker of the House of Commons.”, in The Seasons, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 159, lines 696–700:

     The Claret ſmooth, deep as the lip vve preſs, / In ſparkling fancy, vvhile vve drain the bovvl; / The mellovv-taſted Burgundy; and quick, / As is the vvit it gives, the bright Champaign.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1853 January, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “We Quarrel”, in Villette. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 53:

     [H]e was ready and willing to hear what I might have to say: his spirit was of vintage too mellow and generous to sour in one thunder-clap.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

3. (of soil) Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.

   Synonym: yielding

   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Education or Fourme of Bringing Up of the Childe of a Gentilman, which is to Haue Authoritie in the Publike Weale”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 1st book, page 18:

     [A] wyse and counnynge gardener […] will first serche throughout his gardeyne where he can finde the most melowe and fertile erth: and therin wil he put the sede of the herbe to growe and be norisshed: […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Third Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 47:

     This liketh moorie plots, delights in ſedgie Bovvres, / The graſſy garlands loues, and oft attyr'd with flovvres / Of ranke and mellovv gleabe; a ſwarde as ſoft as vvooll, / VVith her complexion ſtrong, a belly plumpe and full.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [May: To be Done in the Parterre, and Flower-Garden.]”, 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 67:

     [L]et the Caſes be fill'd with natural-earth (ſuch as is taken the firſt half ſpit, from juſt under the Turf of the beſt Paſture ground) mixing it with one part of rotten Cow-dung, or very mellow Soil ſcreen'd and prepar'd ſome time before; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 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 82, lines 355–357:

     For putrid Earth will beſt in Vineyards take, / And hoary Froſts, after the painful Toyl / Of delving Hinds, will rot the Mellow Soil.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter LXXX, in Middlemarch […], volume IV, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book VIII, page 275:

     [I]f your soil was pretty mellow it would do, but if there came wet, wet, wet to make it all of a mummy, why then—

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

4. (chiefly poeticCategory:English poetic terms#MELLOW)
   1. (of leaves, seeds, plants, etc.) Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.
      • 1792, [William] Cowper, “The Needless Alarm. A Tale.”, in The Speaker: Or, Miscellaneous Pieces, Selected from the Best English Writers, and Disposed under Proper Heads, with a View to Facilitate the Improvement of Youth in Reading and Speaking. […], new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 70:

        Nor autumn yet had bruſh'd from ev'ry ſpray, / With her chill hand, the mellow leaves away; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   2. (of a place, or the climate or weather) Fruitful and warm.

      Synonym: mellowy

      • c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Fifth. The Pastor.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, →OCLC, page 219:

        And mellow Autumn, charged with bounteous fruit, / Where is she imaged? in what favoured clime / Her lavish pomp, and ripe magnificence?

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 137:

        Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; / Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

5. (figuratively)
   1. (of colour, sound, style, etc.) Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.

      Synonym: mellowy

      • 1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Third Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph XXXVI, page 552:

        How ſvveet and mellovv, and yet hovv Majeſtick, is the Sound of it!

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1700, [John] Dryden, “The Twelfth Book of Ovid his Metamorphoses, Wholly Translated”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 427:

        The mellow Harp did not their Ears employ: / And mute was all the Warlike Symphony: / Diſcourſe, the Food of Souls, was their Delight, / And pleaſing Chat, prolong'd the Summers-night.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “The History of a Philosophic Vagabond, Pursuing Novelty, but Losing Content”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume II, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 28:

        I remember to have ſeen him, after giving his opinion that the colouring of a picture was not mellow enough, very deliberately take a bruſh with brown varniſh, that was accidentally lying in the place, and rub it over the piece with great compoſure before all the company, and then aſk if he had not improved the tints.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1787–1789, William Wordsworth, “An Evening Walk, Addressed to a Young Lady”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, →OCLC, page 27, column 2:

        [F]rom the neighbouring water, hear at morn / The hound, the horses' tread, and mellow horn; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1821 August 8, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, Cantos III, IV, and V, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto IV, stanza LXXXVII, page 114:

        But being the prima donna's near relation, / Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow, / They hired him, though to hear him you'd believe / An ass was practising recitative.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1822, James G[ates] Percival, “Canto XXVII”, in Prometheus, Part II: With Other Poems, New Haven, Conn.: […] A. H. Maltby and Co., →OCLC, page 18:

        It was from gazing on the fairy hues, / That hung around the born and dying day; / The tender flush, whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light, and where it lay / Deep-bosom'd in a still and waveless bay, / The sea reflected all that glow'd above, […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1835, Alfred Tennyson, “Locksley Hall”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 108:

        Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies, / Breadths of tropic shade and palms in cluster, knots of Paradise.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “The Workshop”, in Adam Bede […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book first, page 15:

        It was a low house, with smooth grey thatch and buff walls, looking pleasant and mellow in the evening light.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Battle of the Sand-belt”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, →OCLC, page 560:

        True, there were the usual night-sounds of the country—the whir of night-birds, the buzzing of insects, the barking of distant dogs, the mellow lowing of far-off kine—but these didn't seem to break the stillness, they only intensified it, and added a grewsome melancholy to it into the bargain.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Miss Stacy and Her Pupils Get Up a Concert”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909, →OCLC, page 264:

        It was October again when Anne was ready to go back to school—a glorious October, all red and gold, with mellow mornings when the valleys were filled with delicate mists as if the spirit of autumn had poured them in for the sun to drain—amethyst, pearl, silver, rose, and smoke-blue.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘It’s Mother!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 349:

        When they told her about the robin and the first flight of the young ones she laughed a motherly little mellow laugh in her throat.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41:

        Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   2. Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
      1. Well-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.

         Synonyms: grounded, sanguine; see also Thesaurus:calm

         • c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for T[homas] Pauier, […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I:

           The cauſe vvas mine, I might haue died for both: / My yeeres vvere mellow, his but young and greene, / My death vvere naturall, but his vvas forced.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • c. 1607–1610 (date written), Thomas Middleton; Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girle. Or Moll Cut-purse. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Thomas Archer, […], published 1611, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

           Lets ſee: no Maiſter Greene-wit is not yet / So mellow in yeares as he; […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1749, [Tobias George Smollett], The Regicide: Or, James the First, of Scotland. A Tragedy. […], London: […] [F]or the benefit of the author, →OCLC, Act V, scene iv, pages 69–70:

           By Day or Night, / In florid Youth, or mellow Age, ſcarce fleets / One Hour without its Care!

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1831, William Wordsworth, “Yarrow Revisited”, in Yarrow Revisited, and Other Poems, London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, […]; and Edward Moxon, […], published 1835, →OCLC, page 6:

           O! while they minister to thee, / Each vying with the other, / May Health return to mellow Age, / With Strength, her venturous brother; […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Bend in the Road”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909, →OCLC, page 426:

           But crispness was no longer Marilla's distinguishing characteristic. As Mrs. Lynde told her Thomas that night. "Marilla Cuthbert has got mellow. That's what."

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      2. Cheerful, genial, jovial, merry; also, easygoing, laid-back, calm, relaxed.

         (cheerful): Synonyms: convivial, gay; see also Thesaurus:happy

         (relaxed): Synonyms: casual, easy-breezy; see also Thesaurus:carefree

         • 1711 May 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, May 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 68; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 417:

           In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, / Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow; / Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee, / There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

           A translation of Martial’s Epigrams, book XII, number 47.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “A Hunting Dinner”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC, page 10:

           The Baronet was when I saw him as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound; and the love he had once felt for one woman had spread itself over the whole sex; so that there was not a pretty face in the whole country round, but came in for a share.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1966 October 24, Donovan Phillips Leitch, “Mellow Yellow”, in Mellow Yellow, performed by Donovan:

           I'm just mad about Saffron / A-Saffron's mad about me / I'm-a just mad about Saffron / She's just mad about me / They call me mellow yellow (quite rightly) / They call me mellow yellow (quite rightly) / They call me mellow yellow

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      3. Drunk, intoxicated; especially slightly or pleasantly so, or to an extent that makes one cheerful and friendly.

         Synonyms: mellowish; see also Thesaurus:drunk

         • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, “Queen Pomaree”, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 309:

           […] Tanee was accosted by certain good fellows, friends and boon companions, who condoled with him on his misfortunes—railed against the queen, and finally dragged him away to an illicit vender of spirits, in whose house the party got gloriously mellow.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXI, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 174:

           Now the master, mellow almost to the verge of geniality, put his chair aside, turned his back to his audience, and began to draw a map of America on the blackboard, to exercise the geography class upon.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      4. (chiefly USCategory:American English#MELLOW, slangCategory:English slang#MELLOW) Pleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce such effects.

         Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stoned

         • 2004, Cecil Young, “Department of Health”, in One Canada: Creating the Greatest Country on Earth, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 266:

           These boys were heavy smokers, and like my high school classmates, were always "high", "cool" and "mellow." They were never violent and were helpful and respectful to the adults in our village.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 2014, Julie McSorley, Marcus McSorley, “Part One: Early 1980s”, in Out of the Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler, Berkeley, Calif.: Roaring Forties Press, →ISBN, page 30:

           Late that night, everyone was sprawled on the sofas and bean bags in the lounge room, mellow because they'd smoked a couple of joints of hash.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 2014, Carrie Mesrobian, chapter 9, in Perfectly Good White Boy, Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, Lerner Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 132:

           "It better be that mellow shit, Kerry," Wendy said, biting into a cookie. "I have to work tomorrow." / "It's mellow shit. You've smoked this stuff before."

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

6. (chiefly African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#MELLOW, slangCategory:English slang#MELLOW) Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great.

Noun

mellow (plural mellows)Category:English lemmas#MELLOWCategory:English nouns#MELLOWCategory:English countable nouns#MELLOWCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MELLOWCategory:Pages with entries#MELLOWCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MELLOW (USCategory:American English#MELLOW, informalCategory:English informal terms#MELLOW)

1. The property of being mellow; mellowness.
2. (specifically) A comfortable or relaxed mood.
   • 1997, Neil A. Hamilton, The ABC-CLIO Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 258, column 1:

     Yet, conversely, some people searched for the mellow […] Hope for flower power had faded, though the journey into the mellow did not represent idealism; rather, it spelled escape— […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   • 1999, Kurt Andersen, chapter 37, in Turn of the Century, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, part 3 (June, July, August, September, October), page 508:

     Nothing like a suicide to harsh a mellow. On their third date, Lizzie had actually said to him, "You're sort of harshing my mellow." It made him wonder if she might be stupid, and not just young.

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

3. (African-American VernacularCategory:African-American Vernacular English#MELLOW) Also main mellow: a close friend or lover.
   • 1994 May 31, Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch, “Do It”, in Ill Communication, performed by the Beastie Boys:

     I've got attractions like I'm Elvis Costello / Adam Yauch grab the mic 'cause you know you're my mellow

     Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

Verb

mellow (third-person singular simple present mellows, present participle mellowing, simple past and past participle mellowed)Category:English lemmas#MELLOWCategory:English verbs#MELLOWCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MELLOWCategory:Pages with entries#MELLOWCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MELLOW

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#MELLOW)
   1. To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
      • 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:

        Then Olives, ground in Mills, their fatneſs boaſt, / And Winter Fruits are mellow'd by the Froſt.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 1782, William Cowper, “Conversation”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 244:

        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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 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:

        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; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   2. To cause (food or drink, for example, cheese or wine, or its flavour) to become matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
   3. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#MELLOW except BritishCategory:British English#MELLOW, regionalCategory:Regional English#MELLOW) To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
      • 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:

        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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      • 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:

        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; […]

        Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

   4. (figuratively)
      1. To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
         • 1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 16, verso:

           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?

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           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?

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           [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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           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; […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CVI, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 557:

           [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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      2. 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.Category:English terms with usage examples#MELLOW

      3. (chiefly passive voice) To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
         • 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:

           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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “The Brook; an Idyl”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 109:

           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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      4. (also reflexiveCategory:English reflexive verbs#MELLOW, originally USCategory:American English#MELLOW, informalCategory:English informal terms#MELLOW) Followed by out: to relax (a person); in particular, to cause (a person) to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#MELLOW)
   1. (of food or drink, or its flavour) To mature and lose its harshness or sharpness.
   2. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#MELLOW except BritishCategory:British English#MELLOW, regionalCategory:Regional English#MELLOW, of soil) To be rendered soft and suitable for planting in.
   3. (figuratively)
      1. To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.
         • 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:

           So now proſperitie begins to mellow / And drop into the rotten mouth of Death: […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           [T]ill death us lay / To ripe and mellow, here we're stubborn clay.

           The spelling has been modernized.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 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:

           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: […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1823, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in The Island, or Christian and His Comrades, London: […] John Hunt, […], →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 36, lines 360–363:

           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, […]

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

         • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 11.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 297:

           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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#MELLOW

      2. (originally USCategory:American English#MELLOW, informalCategory:English informal terms#MELLOW, followed by out, of a person) To relax; in particular, to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.

References

Further reading

• mellow (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia