Definition of "mature"

mature¹

/məˈtjʊə/

adjective
comparative maturer or more mature, superlative maturest or most mature
1. Fully developed; grown up in terms of physical appearance, behaviour or thinking; ripe.
2. Brought to a state of complete readiness.
3. Profound; careful.
4. (medicine, obsolete) Come to, or in a state of, completed suppuration.
5. (television, film) Suitable for adults only, due to sexual themes, violence, etc.

mature²

/məˈtjʊə/

verb
third-person singular simple present matures, present participle maturing, simple past and past participle matured
1. (intransitive) To proceed toward maturity: full development or completion (either of concrete or of abstract things, e.g. plans, judgments, qualities).
  Quotations
  […] his originality, in the mean time, was maturing to perfection.
  1797, Mr. Harrison, “A Biographical Sketch of Hogarth”, in The Comick Magazine‎, volume 1, London: Harrison and Co., page 3
2. (intransitive, of food, especially fruit) To attain maturity, to become mature or ripe.
  Quotations
  […] Trees […] have alwayes Fruit upon them, ripe, or preparing to mature;
  1670, John Evelyn, chapter 35, in Sylva, or, A Discourse of Forest-trees‎, London, page 246
3. (transitive) To bring (something) to maturity, full development, or completion.
  Quotations
  […] But these thoughtsFull Counsel must mature:
  1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost‎, book 1, lines 659–660
  […] much it nowImports they should be still deceiv’d, till timeMatures our enterprize;
  1768, John Hoole, Cyrus: A Tragedy‎, London: T. Davies, act I, page 12
  […] I did not interrupt her, I was so busy maturing a plan I had had in my mind for some days […]
  1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford, New York: Harper, Chapter 13, p. 262
  […] the long clean groove of her upper lip was ready to go into motion, as if she were going to break her silence with something momentous and long-matured; explain love to me, perhaps.
  1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 8, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press, page 143
4. (transitive) To make (something, e.g. fruit) ripe or mature.
  Quotations
  […] a ship well freighted with the storesThe sun matures on India’s spicy shores,
  1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems‎, London: J. Johnson, page 202
  There are certain vegetables like the tomato which require a long period to mature the fruit, and these must be started several weeks before the frosts have passed.
  2009, Hugh Findlay, Practical Gardening, Vegetables and Fruits‎
5. (intransitive, of a person) To proceed toward or become mature or full-grown, either physically or psychologically; to gain experience or wisdom with age.
6. (transitive) To make (someone) mature.
  Quotations
  Then Tom shall have his kite, and Fan new dollies,Till time matures them for important follies.
  1776, Hannah Cowley, The Runaway‎, London: Prologue
  […] what I most wanted was time to grow up. The war had not matured me;
  1970, Robertson Davies, chapter 2, in Fifth Business‎, part 6, Toronto: Macmillan, page 103
7. (intransitive, finance) To reach the date when payment is due.

Definition of "mature"

mature1

adjective

mature2

verb

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mature¹

mature²