Mel"low , v. i. To become mellow; as, ripe fruit soon mellows.
"Prosperity begins to mellow." Shak.
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.
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.
Hear it pronounced