# mellow

Pronunciation: say "MEL-oh" US /ˈmɛloʊ/, UK /ˈmɛləʊ/

## Adjective

1. Of a person, cheerful and good-humored, or easygoing and relaxed.
   - Simple: Of a person, happy and friendly, or calm and relaxed.
   - _Our new roommate is pretty mellow, so the apartment feels a lot calmer._
   - _The coach was in an unusually mellow mood after the win, joking with reporters._
2. Of a color, sound, style, or the like, soft, rich, and subdued, with nothing coarse, brash, or harsh about it.
   - Simple: Of a color, sound, or style, soft and rich, not loud, rough, or harsh.
   - _The cellist's mellow tone filled the small concert hall._
   - _Late-afternoon sun gave the old brick houses a mellow glow._
3. Of food or drink, or its flavor, matured and smooth rather than acidic, harsh, or sharp.
   - Simple: Of food or drink, aged until it tastes smooth, not sour or sharp.
   - _Aged in oak, the whiskey develops a mellow, rounded flavor._
   - _Two years in the cellar left the cheddar mellower and far less tangy._
4. Of a person, well matured by age or experience, and calm, gentle, and dignified rather than impulsive.
   - Simple: Of a person, calm, gentle, and careful because of age or experience.
   - _The senator grew mellower in his later years, measured where he had once been fiery._
   - _Her mellow, unhurried judgment made her the one everyone consulted in a crisis._
11. Of fruit, soft or tender because it is ripe, and having a tender pulp.
   - Simple: Of fruit, soft inside because it is ripe.
   - _By late September the apples on the south wall were mellow and sweet._
   - _She pressed a thumb into the plum to see whether it was mellow yet._
12. Drunk, especially in a mild or pleasant way, or enough to make one cheerful and friendly.
   - Simple: Drunk, usually just a little, in a way that makes you happy and friendly.
   - _A few beers in, the usually stiff accountant was mellow and chatty._
   - _The brandy left him mellower than anyone had seen him in years._
13. Pleasantly high and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of a drug, mildly intoxicating and tending to produce that state. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: Feeling calm and pleasantly high after taking drugs, or of a drug, mild and relaxing.
   - _He got mellow on the porch after a couple of hits and forgot all about the argument._
   - _She only buys the mellow stuff, nothing that leaves her jittery or paranoid._
16. Of a place, climate, or weather, warm and fruitful. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Of a place or weather, warm and good for growing fruit and crops.
   - _The south slope, mellow and sheltered, gave the best grapes in the region._
   - _Those mellow September days loaded the orchard branches until they bent._
17. Of leaves, seeds, plants, and the like, mature; of crops, ripe and ready to be harvested. *(literary)*
   - Simple: Of plants, leaves, or seeds, fully grown, or of crops, ripe and ready to harvest.
   - _By August the barley stood mellow and gold, ready for the harvest._
   - _She waited until the bean pods were dry and the seeds mellow before saving them for spring._
19. Of soil, soft and loamy, easily dug into or worked rather than hard or rigid.
   - Simple: Of soil, soft, loose, and easy to dig.
   - _Years of compost had turned the heavy clay into a deep, mellow loam._
   - _Seeds sprout quickly where the ground is mellow and well drained._
22. Pleasing in some way; excellent or great. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Very good, great, or really pleasing.
   - _He's been showing off his mellow new kicks to everybody on the block._
   - _The fireworks last night were mellow, the biggest and loudest show the city has put on in years._

## Verb

5. To grow less harsh, becoming gentler, quieter, or more restrained.
   - Simple: To become softer, gentler, and less harsh than before.
   - _Critics noticed that the band's sound had started to mellow by its third album._
   - _Her views on the subject mellowed considerably once she met the families involved._
6. Of a person, used with out: to relax, or in particular to become pleasantly high from taking drugs. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: To relax, or to feel pleasantly high from drugs. People usually say mellow out.
   - _Mellow out. The flight is only twenty minutes late._
   - _They passed a joint around the campfire and mellowed out under the stars._
7. Of food or drink, or its flavor, to mature and lose its harshness or sharpness.
   - Simple: Of food or drink, to grow older and become smoother and less sharp in taste.
   - _Leave the chili in the fridge overnight so the spices can mellow._
   - _A young red like this one mellows with a few years in the bottle._
8. To make a person calmer, gentler, and more understanding, especially through age or experience.
   - Simple: To make someone calmer, gentler, and more understanding, often because of age or life experience.
   - _Decades in the classroom had mellowed the once-fiery teacher._
   - _Experience tends to mellow even the most hot-headed managers._
9. To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness of something, making it softer or more subdued.
   - Simple: To make something softer and less harsh or rough.
   - _A good editor can mellow the harshest criticism without blunting its point._
   - _Heavy curtains mellowed the traffic noise from the street below._
14. With out, to relax a person or oneself; in particular, to make someone pleasantly high on drugs. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: To make someone or yourself relax, or feel pleasantly high from drugs. People say mellow out.
   - _She put on some jazz to mellow herself out before the interview._
   - _A shared joint had mellowed the whole group out by the time the band came on._
15. To make food or drink, such as cheese or wine, or its flavor, matured and smooth instead of acidic, harsh, or sharp.
   - Simple: To make food or drink, like cheese or wine, smoother and less sharp by letting it age.
   - _Aging in charred oak barrels mellows the whiskey's bite._
   - _Cellar the bottles for a few years to mellow the wine's sharp edges._
18. To make a person slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
   - Simple: To make someone a little drunk in a pleasant way.
   - _Well mellowed by the host's brandy, the guests began telling old stories._
   - _The salesman tried to mellow his clients with free whiskey before talking price._
21. To make fruit soft or tender, specifically by ripening it.
   - Simple: To make fruit soft and tender by letting it ripen.
   - _Growers leave persimmons on the branch until frost has mellowed them._
   - _Another week of sunshine should mellow the peaches nicely._
24. To make land or soil softer so that it is ready to be planted. *(dialectal, British)*
   - Simple: To make soil soft and ready for planting.
   - _He dug in plenty of old manure to mellow the stiff clay before spring sowing._
   - _Hard frosts had mellowed the bare earth by the time it was ready for seed._
25. Of soil, to become soft and suitable for planting in. *(dialectal, British)*
   - Simple: Of soil, to become soft and ready for planting.
   - _Turned in early winter and left rough, the ground mellows nicely by spring._
   - _Stiff clay needs a hard winter to mellow before it will take seed._

## Noun

10. A comfortable, relaxed mood or frame of mind. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A calm, comfortable, relaxed mood.
   - _A surprise call from his boss on Saturday totally harshed his mellow._
   - _After a week at the lake, she had found her mellow and meant to keep it._
20. The quality or state of being mellow. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: The quality of being mellow, like a soft sound or a smooth taste.
   - _There's a mellow to her playing these days that wasn't there when she was younger._
   - _The bourbon has a rounded mellow that the younger bottles lack._
23. A close friend or a lover, also called someone's main mellow. *(colloquial, US)*
   - Simple: A very close friend, or a boyfriend or girlfriend. People also say main mellow.
   - _Me and my mellow are heading downtown tonight._
   - _Everybody knew Rita was his main mellow, so nobody else asked her to dance._

## Origin

The adjective comes from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”), whose further origin is uncertain: it may come from an attributive use of Middle English melow (“meal, flour”), from Old English melo, Proto-Germanic *melwą and Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”), or it may be a variant of Middle English merow (“soft, tender”), from Old English meru, mearu, Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”) and Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”). The noun and verb both come from the adjective, though the origin of the noun sense “close friend; lover” is unknown and may also come from the adjective. Related words include Dutch murw and West Frisian murf (“tender”) and German mürbe (“soft, tender”).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mellow (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).