yellowed

1. 1
   adjective

   Having taken on a yellow color or discoloration, especially as a result of age.

   The yellowed manuscript was difficult to read under the dim lamp.

   Decades of cigarette smoke had left the walls yellowed and grimy.

   Similardiscolored, faded, stained, aged

   Oppositepristine

2. 2
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of yellow.

   The delicate lace had yellowed by the time she found it again.

   Old glue yellowed along the spine of the book.

   Note

   One spelling does the work of both past forms, and the verb behind it runs in two directions. Intransitively, a thing yellows on its own: the lace had yellowed, with have. Transitively, something else yellows it, and the passive follows: pages yellowed by smoke. Once the participle settles before a noun, as in a yellowed photograph, it has become the adjective of age-worn color, which can even take more and most.

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