mellow
Meanings
- Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
- Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
- Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.
- Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.
- Fruitful and warm.
- Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.
- Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
- Well-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.
- Cheerful, genial, jovial, merry; also, easygoing, laid-back, calm, relaxed.
- Drunk, intoxicated; especially slightly or pleasantly so, or to an extent that makes one cheerful and friendly.
- Pleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce such effects.
- Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great.
- The property of being mellow; mellowness.
- A comfortable or relaxed mood.
- Also main mellow: a close friend or lover.
- 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.
- 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.
- To be rendered soft and suitable for planting in.
- To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.
- To relax; in particular, to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms], from Old English melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or * a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms], from Old English meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; callow”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”). The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective. The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective. Cognates * Dutch murw (“tender”) * German mürbe (“soft, tender”) * German Low German möör (“tender”) * Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”) (Icelandic meyr (“tender”)) * Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”) * West Frisian murf (“tender”)