mellow

• POS: Adjective, Verb (usu participle)
• HYPHEN: mel=low

CIDE DICTIONARY

mellow, a. [OE. melwe; cf. AS. mearu soft, D. murw, Prov. G. mollig soft, D. malsch, and E. meal flour.].

•  Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp; as, a mellow apple.  [1913 Webster]
•  Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid; as, a mellow soil.  [1913 Webster]

  "The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues
  Heaven with all freaks of light."  [1913 Webster]
•  Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.  [1913 Webster]

  "May health return to mellow age."  [1913 Webster]

  "As merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound."  [1913 Webster]
•  Warmed by liquor; slightly intoxicated.  Addison.  [1913 Webster]

mellow, v. t. 

 To make mellow.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"If the Weather prove frosty to mellow it [the ground], they do not plow it again till April."  [1913 Webster]
"The fervor of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age."  [1913 Webster]

mellow, v. i. 

 To become mellow; as, ripe fruit soon mellows.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

mellow, adj. & v.
--adj.
1 (of sound, colour, light) soft and rich, free from harshness.
2 (of character) softened or matured by age or experience.
3 genial, jovial.
4 partly intoxicated.
5 (of fruit) soft, sweet, and juicy.
6 (of wine) well-matured, smooth.
7 (of earth) rich, loamy.
--v.tr. & intr. make or become mellow.

Derivative

mellowly adv. mellowness n.

Etymology

ME, perh. f. attrib. use of OE melu, melw- MEAL(2)

THESAURUS

mellow

achingly sweet, addled, advance, affable, age, aged, agreeable, agreeable-sounding, amiable, amicable, appealing, ariose, arioso, attain majority, bear fruit, beery, bemused, besotted, blind drunk, blissful, bloom, blossom, blow, bring to maturity, canorous, cantabile, catchy, cheerful, come of age, come to fruition, come to maturity, compatible, complaisant, congenial, cordial, crapulent, crapulous, creamy, cushion, delicate, delicious, desirable, develop, developed, dizzy, drenched, drunk, drunken, dulcet, ease, easy, easygoing, eggshell, en rapport, enjoyable, euphonic, euphonious, euphonous, evolute, evolve, fair, fair and pleasant, far-gone, felicific, felicitous, fine, fine-toned, flat, flavorful, fledge, flourish, flower, fluff, flustered, fou, friendly, full, full-blown, full-flavored, full-fledged, full-grown, fully developed, gay, genial, gentle, giddy, glorious, gloss, golden, golden-tongued, golden-voiced, good, good-natured, goodly, gracious, grateful, gratifying, grow, grow up, happy, harmonious, heart-warming, honeyed, in full bloom, in liquor, inebriate, inebriated, inebrious, intoxicated, iridescent, jolly, jovial, juicy, knead, laxate, leave the nest, light, likable, limber, limber up, liquid, loosen, luscious, mash, massage, maturate, maturated, mature, matured, maudlin, melic, mellifluent, mellifluous, mellisonant, mellowed, mellowy, melodic, melodious, merry, mild, milden, mollified, mollify, mother-of-pearl, muddled, music-flowing, music-like, musical, muted, nacreous, nappy, nice, nonresistive, nonrigid, opalescent, pale, pastel, patinaed, pearly, plangent, pleasant, pleasant-sounding, pleasing, pleasurable, pleasure-giving, pleasureful, plump, progress, pulp, pulsing, pure, quiet, reach its season, reach manhood, reach maturity, reach twenty-one, reach voting age, ready, reeling, relax, resonant, resonating, rewarding, rich, ripe, ripen, ripened, rolling, sad, satisfying, season, seasoned, semigloss, settle down, shake up, shikker, silver-toned, silver-tongued, silver-voiced, silvery, simple, singable, smash, sober, sodden, soft, soft as putty, soft-colored, soft-hued, soften, soften up, softened, somber, songful, songlike, sonorous, sotted, squash, subdue, subdued, subtle, supple, sweet, sweet-flowing, sweet-sounding, sweeten, temper, tempered, tender, tenderize, throbbing, tiddly, tipsy, toga virilis, tone down, tunable, tune down, tuneful, under the influence, vibrant, vibrating, warm, wax, welcome, whisper-soft

ROGET THESAURUS

mellow

Improvement

VB improve, be better, become better, get better, mend, amend, advance, ascend, increase, fructify, ripen, mature, pick up, come about, rally, take a favorable turn, turn over a new leaf, turn the corner, raise one's head, sow one's wild oats, recover, be better, be improved by, turn to right account, turn to good account, turn to best account, profit by, reap the benefit of, make good use of, make capital out of, place to good account, render better, improve, mend, amend, better, ameliorate, meliorate, correct, decrassify, improve upon, refine upon, rectify, enrich, mellow, elaborate, fatten, promote, cultivate, advance, forward, enhance, bring forward, bring on, foster, invigorate, touch up, rub up, brush up, furbish up, bolster up, vamp up, brighten up, warm up, polish, cook, make the most of, set off to advantage, prune, repair, put in order, review, revise, make corrections, make improvements, doctor, purify, relieve, refresh, infuse new blood into, recruit, reform, remodel, reorganize, new model, view in a new light, think better of, appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober, palliate, mitigate, lessen an evil.

Preparation

VB prepare, get ready, make ready, make preparations, settle preliminaries, get up, sound the note of preparation, set in order, put in order, forecast, prepare the ground, plow the ground, dress the ground, till the soil, cultivate the soil, predispose, sow the seed, lay a train, dig a mine, lay the groundwork, fix the groundwork, lay the basis, fix the basis, lay the foundations, fix the foundations, dig the foundations, erect the scaffolding, lay the first stone, roughhew, cut out work, block out, hammer out, lick into shape, elaborate, mature, ripen, mellow, season, bring to maturity, nurture, hatch, cook, brew, temper, anneal, smelt, barbecue, infumate, maturate, equip, arm, man, fit-out, fit up, furnish, rig, dress, garnish, betrim, accouter, array, fettle, fledge, dress up, furbish up, brush up, vamp up, refurbish, sharpen one's tools, trim one's foils, set, prime, attune, whet the knife, whet the sword, wind up, screw up, adjust, put in trim, put in train, put in gear, put in working order, put in tune, put in a groove for, put in harness, pack, train, inure, breed, prepare for, rehearse, make provision for, take steps, take measures, take precautions, provide, provide against, beat up for recruits, open the door to, set one's house in order, make all snug, clear the decks, clear for action, close one's ranks, shuffle the cards, prepare oneself, serve an apprenticeship, lay oneself out for, get into harness, gird up one's loins, buckle on one's armor, reculer pour mieux sauter, prime and load, shoulder arms, get the steam up, put the horses to, guard against, make sure against, forearm, make sure, prepare for the evil day, have a rod in pickle, provide against a rainy day, feather one's nest, lay in provisions, make investments, keep on foot, be prepared, be ready, hold oneself in readiness, keep one's powder dry, lie in wait for, anticipate, principiis obstare, veniente occurrere morbo.

N preparation, providing, provision, providence, anticipation, precaution, preconcertation, predisposition, forecast, rehearsal, note of preparation, arrangement, clearance, adjustment, tuning, equipment, outfit, accouterment, armament, array, ripening, maturation, evolution, elaboration, concoction, digestion, gestation, batching, incubation, sitting, groundwork, first stone, cradle, stepping-stone, foundation, scaffold, scaffolding, echafaudage, training, inurement, novitiate, cooking, cookery, brewing, culinary art, tilling, plowing sowing, semination, cultivation, preparedness, readiness, ripeness, mellowness, maturity, un impromptu fait a loisir, preparer, trainer, pioneer, trailblazer, avant-courrier, avant-coureur, voortrekker, sappers and miners, pavior, navvy, packer, stevedore, warming pan, preparing, in preparation, in course of preparation, in agitation, in embryo, in hand, in train, afoot, afloat, on foot, on the stocks, on the anvil, under consideration, brewing, batching, forthcoming, brooding, in store for, in reserve, precautionary, provident, preparative, preparatory, provisional, inchoate, under revision, preliminary, prepared, in readiness, ready, ready to one's band, ready made, ready cut and dried: made to one's hand, handy, on the table, in gear, in working order, in working gear, snug, in practice, ripe, mature, mellow, pukka, practiced, labored, elaborate, highly-wrought, smelling of the lamp, worked up, in full feather, in best bib and tucker, in harness, at harness, in the saddle, in arms, in battle array, in war paint, up in arms, armed at all points, armed to the teeth, armed cap a pie, sword in hand, booted and spurred, in utrumque paratus, semper paratus, on the alert, at one's post, in preparation, in anticipation of, against, for, abroach, a bove majori discit arare minor, looking before and after, si vis pacem para bellum.

Age

N age, oldness, old age, advanced age, golden years, senility, senescence, years, anility, gray hairs, climacteric, grand climacteric, declining years, decrepitude, hoary age, caducity, superannuation, second childhood, second childishness, dotage, vale of years, decline of life, sear and yellow leaf, threescore years and ten, green old age, ripe age, longevity, time of life, seniority, eldership, elders, firstling, doyen, father, primogeniture, geriatrics, nostology, aged, old, elderly, geriatric, senile, matronly, anile, in years, ripe, mellow, run to seed, declining, waning, past one's prime, gray, gray-headed, hoar, hoary, venerable, time-worn, antiquated, passe, effete, decrepit, superannuated, advanced in life, advanced in years, stricken in years, wrinkled, marked withthe crow's foot, having one foot in the grave, doting, like the last of pea time, older, elder, eldest, senior, firstborn, turned of, years old, of a certain age, no chicken, old as Methuselah, ancestral, patriarchal, gerontic, give me a staff of honor for my age, bis pueri senes, peu de gens savent elre vieux, plenus annis abiit plenus honoribus, old age is creeping on apace, slow-consuming age, the hoary head is a crown of glory, the silver livery of advised age, to grow old gracefully, to vanish in the chinks that Time has made.

Conversion

VB be converted into, become, get, wax, come to, turn to, turn into, evolve into, develop into, turn out, lapse, shift, run into, fall into, pass into, slide into, glide into, grow into, ripen into, open into, resolve itself into, settle into, merge into, emerge as, melt, grow, come round to, mature, mellow, assume the form of, assume the shape of, assume the state of, assume the nature of, assume the character of, illapse, begin a new phase, assume a new phase, undergo a change, convert into, resolve into, make, render, mold, form, remodel, new model, refound, reform, reorganize, assimilate to, bring to, reduce to.

Drunkenness

N drunkenness, intemperance, drinking, inebriety, inebriation, ebriety, ebriosity, insobriety, intoxication, temulency, bibacity, wine bibbing, comtation, potation, deep potations, bacchanals, bacchanalia, libations, bender, oinomania, dipsomania, delirium tremens, alcohol, alcoholism, mania a potu, drink, alcoholic drinks, blue ruin, grog, port wine, punch, punch bowl, cup, rosy wine, flowing bowl, drop, drop too much, dram, beer, aguardiente, apple brandy, applejack, brandy, brandy smash, chain lightning, champagne, cocktail, gin, ginsling, highball, peg, rum, rye, schnapps, sherry, sling, uisquebaugh, usquebaugh, whisky, xeres, drunkard, sot, toper, tippler, bibber, wine-bibber, lush, hard drinker, gin drinker, dram drinker, soaker, sponge, tun, love pot, toss pot, thirsty soul, reveler, carouser, Bacchanal, Bacchanalian, Bacchal, Bacchante, devotee to Bacchus, bum, guzzler, tavern haunter, drunk, tipsy, intoxicated, inebrious, inebriate, inebriated, in one's cups, in a state of intoxication, temulent, temulentive, bombed, smashed, fuddled, mellow, cut, boozy, fou, fresh, merry, elevated, flustered, disguised, groggy, beery, top-heavy, potvaliant, glorious, potulent, squiffy, overcome, overtaken, whittled, screwed, tight, primed, corned, raddled, sewed up, lushy, nappy, muddled, muzzy, obfuscated, maudlin, crapulous, dead drunk, woozy, buzzed, flush, flushed, inter pocula, in liquor, the worse for liquor, having had a drop too much, half seas over, three sheets in the wind, three sheets to the wind, under the table, drunk as a lord, drunk as a skunk, drunk as a piper, drunk as a fiddler, drunk as Chloe, drunk as an owl, drunk as David's sow, drunk as a wheelbarrow, drunken, bibacious, sottish, given to drink, addicted to drink, addicted to the bottle, toping, nunc est bibendum, Bacchus ever fair and young, drink down all unkindness, O that men should put an enemy in their mouths to.

Moderation

N moderation, lenity, temperateness, gentleness, sobriety, quiet, mental calmness, moderating, anaphrodisia, relaxation, remission, mitigation, tranquilization, assuagement, contemporation, pacification, measure, juste milieu, golden mean, ariston metron, moderator, lullaby, sedative, lenitive, demulcent, antispasmodic, carminative, laudanum, rose water, balm, poppy, opiate, anodyne, milk, opium, poppy or mandragora, wet blanket, palliative, moderate, lenient, gentle, mild, mellow, cool, sober, temperate, reasonable, measured, tempered, calm, unruffled, quiet, tranquil, still, slow, smooth, untroubled, tame, peaceful, peaceable, pacific, halcyon, unexciting, unirritating, soft, bland, oily, demulcent, lenitive, anodyne, hypnotic, sedative, antiorgastic, anaphrodisiac, mild as mother's milk, milk and water, moderately, gingerly, piano, under easy sail, at half speed, within bounds, within compass, in reason, est modue in rebus, pour oil on troubled waters.

Softness

VB render soft, soften, mollify, mellow, relax, temper, mash, knead, squash, bend, yield, relent, relax, give, plasticize'.

N softness, pliableness, flexibility, pliancy, pliability, sequacity, malleability, ductility, tractility, extendibility, extensibility, plasticity, inelasticity, flaccidity, laxity, penetrability, clay, wax, butter, dough, pudding, alumina, argil, cushion, pillow, feather bed, down, padding, wadding, foam, mollification, softening, soft, tender, supple, pliant, pliable, flexible, flexile, lithe, lithesome, lissom, limber, plastic, ductile, tractile, tractable, malleable, extensile, sequacious, inelastic, aluminous, remollient, yielding, flabby, limp, flimsy, doughy, spongy, penetrable, foamy, cushiony, flaccid, flocculent, downy, edematous, oedematous, medullary, argillaceous, mellow, soft as butter, soft as down, soft as silk, yielding as wax, tender as chicken.

Concord

N concord, accord, harmony, symphony, homologue, agreement, sympathy, empathy, response, union, unison, unity, bonds of harmony, peace, unanimity, league, happy family, rapprochement, reunion, amity, alliance, entente cordiale, good understanding, conciliation, peacemaker, intercessor, mediator, concordant, congenial, agreeing, in accord, harmonious, united, cemented, banded together, allied, friendly, fraternal, conciliatory, at one with, of one mind, at peace, in still water, tranquil, with one voice, in concert with, hand in hand, on one's side, commune periculum concordiam parit, melody concord, melody, rhythm, measure, rhyme, pitch, timbre, intonation, tone, scale, gamut, diapason, diatonic chromatic scale, enharmonic scale, key, clef, chords, modulation, temperament, syncope, syncopation, preparation, suspension, resolution, staff, stave, line, space, brace, bar, rest, appoggiato, appoggiatura, acciaccatura, note, musical note, notes of a scale, sharp, flat, natural, high note, low note, interval, semitone, second, third, fourth, diatessaron, breve, semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, demisemiquaver, hemidemisemiquaver, sustained note, drone, burden, tonic, key note, leading note, fundamental note, supertonic, mediant, dominant, submediant, subdominant, octave, tetrachord, major key, minor key, major scale, minor scale, major mode, minor mode, passage, phrase, concord, harmony, emmeleia, unison, unisonance, chime, homophony, euphony, euphonism, tonality, consonance, consent, part, harmony, harmonics, thorough-bass, fundamental-bass, counterpoint, faburden, piece of music, composer, harmonist, contrapuntist (musician), harmonious, harmonical, in concord, in tune, in concert, unisonant, concentual, symphonizing, isotonic, homophonous, assonant, ariose, consonant, measured, rhythmical, diatonic, chromatic, enharmonic, melodious, musical, melic, tuneful, tunable, sweet, dulcet, canorous, mellow, mellifluous, soft, clear, clear as a bell, silvery, euphonious, euphonic, euphonical, symphonious, enchanting fine-toned, full-toned, silver-toned, harmoniously, in harmony, as one, the hidden soul of harmony.

Color

N color, hue, tint, tinge, dye, complexion, shade, tincture, cast, livery, coloration, glow, flush, tone, key, pure color, positive color, primary color, primitive complementary color, three primaries, spectrum, chromatic dispersion, broken color, secondary color, tertiary color, local color, coloring, keeping, tone, value, aerial perspective, chromatics, spectrum analysis, spectroscopy, chromatism, chromatography, chromatology, prism, spectroscope, spectrograph, spectrometer, colorimeter (optical instruments), pigment, coloring matter, paint, dye, wash, distemper, stain, medium, mordant, oil paint, colored, colorific, tingent, tinctorial, chromatic, prismatic, full-colored, high-colored, deep-colored, doubly-dyed, polychromatic, chromatogenous, tingible, bright, vivid, intense, deep, fresh, unfaded, rich, gorgeous, gay, gaudy, florid, gay, garish, rainbow-colored, multihued, showy, flaunting, flashy, raw, crude, glaring, flaring, discordant, inharmonious, mellow, pastel, harmonious, pearly, sweet, delicate, tender, refined.