mellow UK /ˈmɛləʊ/US /ˈmɛloʊ/adjective 11verb 11noun 3forms 9phrases 1 adjective11 •Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.Com[inius]. Hee'l shake your Rome about your eares. / Mene[nius]. As Hercules did shake downe Mellow Fruite: You haue made faire worke. — 1608 •(figurative) Cheerful, genial, jovial, merry; also, easygoing, laid-back, calm, relaxed.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. — 1711 •Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.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. — 1730 •(figurative) Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.How svveet and mellovv, and yet hovv Majestick, is the Sound of it! — 1668 •(figurative) Drunk, intoxicated; especially slightly or pleasantly so, or to an extent that makes one cheerful and friendly. •(slang, figurative) Pleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce such effects.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. — 2004 •(figurative) Well-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.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. — 1587 •(literary) Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.Nor autumn yet had brush'd from ev'ry spray, / With her chill hand, the mellow leaves away; […] — 1792 •(slang) Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great. •(literary) Fruitful and warm.And mellow Autumn, charged with bounteous fruit, / Where is she imaged? in what favoured clime / Her lavish pomp, and ripe magnificence? — 1806 •Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.For putrid Earth will best in Vineyards take, / And hoary Frosts, after the painful Toyl / Of delving Hinds, will rot the Mellow Soil. — 1697 verb11 •To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.Then Olives, ground in Mills, their fatness boast, / And Winter Fruits are mellow'd by the Frost. — 1697 •(figurative) To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.[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. — 1915 •(figurative) 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. •(figurative) To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.So now prosperitie begins to mellow / And drop into the rotten mouth of Death: […] — 1593 •(figurative) To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.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. — 1855 •[with oneself] (informal, figurative) Followed by out: to relax (a person); in particular, to cause (a person) to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs. •(informal, figurative) To relax; in particular, to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs. •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 mature and lose its harshness or sharpness. •To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.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; […] — 1664 •To be rendered soft and suitable for planting in. noun3 •(US, informal) The property of being mellow; mellowness. •(US, informal) A comfortable or relaxed mood.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— […] — 1997 •(US, informal) Also main mellow: a close friend or lover.I've got attractions like I'm Elvis Costello / Adam Yauch grab the mic 'cause you know you're my mellow — 1994 formsmellowed · mellowing · melloweth · mellows · mellowest · mellower · more mellow · mellowest · most mellow Phrases with mellow mellow outTo become mellow or to soften in intensity (such as a smell, emotion or sound), or to change from uptight to relaxed.
