Definition of "mellow"
mellow
adjective
comparative mellower or more mellow, superlative mellowest or most mellow
(also figuratively, of fruit) Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
Quotations
How can thoſe men call home the loſt ſheepe that are gone aſtray, comming into the miniſtery before their wits be ſtaied? This greene fruite, beeing gathered before it be ripe, is rotten before it be mellow, and infected with ſciſmes before they have learned to bridle their affections, […]
1589, T[homas] Nashe, The Anatomie of Absurditie: […], London: […] I[ohn] Charlewood for Thomas Hacket, […]; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, The Anatomie of Absurditie (Old English Literature), page 40
Com[inius]. Hee'l ſhake your Rome about your eares. / Mene[nius]. As Hercules did ſhake downe Mellow Fruite: You haue made faire worke.
c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene vi], page 24, column 2
But Mary secretly rejoiced that the youngest of the three was very much what her father must have been when he wore a round jacket, and showed a marvellous nicety of aim in playing at marbles, or in throwing stones to bring down the mellow pears.
1871–1872, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “Final”, in Middlemarch […], volume IV, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, book VIII, page 361
(also figuratively, of food or drink, or its flavour) Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
Quotations
The claret ſmooth, red as the lip we preſs / In ſparkling fancy, while we drain the bowl; / The mellow-taſted Burgundy; and quick, / As is the wit it gives, the gay champaign.
1730, James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, page 139, lines 701–704
(of soil) Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.
Quotations
[A] wyse and counnynge gardener […] will first serche throughout his gardeyne where he can finde the most melowe and fertile erth: and therin wil he put the sede of the herbe to growe and be norisshed: […]
1531, Thomas Elyot, “The Education or Fourme of Bringing Up of the Childe of a Gentilman, which is to Haue Authoritie in the Publike Weale”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published , 1st book, page 18
This liketh moorie plots, delights in ſedgie Bovvres, / The graſſy garlands loues, and oft attyr'd with flovvres / Of ranke and mellovv gleabe; a ſwarde as ſoft as vvooll, / VVith her complexion ſtrong, a belly plumpe and full.
1612, Michael Drayton, “The Third Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Mathew Lownes; I. Browne; I. Helme; I. Busbie, published 1613, page 47
[L]et the Caſes be fill'd with natural-earth (ſuch as is taken the firſt half ſpit, from juſt under the Turf of the beſt Paſture ground) mixing it with one part of rotten Cow-dung, or very mellow Soil ſcreen'd and prepar'd ſome time before; […]
1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [May: To be Done in the Parterre, and Flower-Garden.].”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], page 67
For putrid Earth will beſt in Vineyards take, / And hoary Froſts, after the painful Toyl / Of delving Hinds, will rot the Mellow Soil.
1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 82, lines 355–357
(chiefly poetic)
(of leaves, seeds, plants, etc.) Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.
Quotations
Nor autumn yet had bruſh'd from ev'ry ſpray, / With her chill hand, the mellow leaves away; […]
1792, [William] Cowper, “The Needless Alarm. A Tale.”, in The Speaker: Or, Miscellaneous Pieces, Selected from the Best English Writers, and Disposed under Proper Heads, with a View to Facilitate the Improvement of Youth in Reading and Speaking. […], new edition, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 70
(of a place, or the climate or weather) Fruitful and warm.
Quotations
And mellow Autumn, charged with bounteous fruit, / Where is she imaged? in what favoured clime / Her lavish pomp, and ripe magnificence?
c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Fifth. The Pastor.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, page 219
Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, / Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; / Conspiring with him how to load and bless / With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run; […]
1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, stanza 1, page 137
(figuratively)
(of colour, sound, style, etc.) Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.
Quotations
How ſweet and mellow, and yet how Majeſtick, is the Sound of it!
1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The Third Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Joseph Downing […], published 1713, paragraph XXXVI, page 284
The mellow Harp did not their Ears employ: / And mute was all the Warlike Symphony: / Diſcourſe, the Food of Souls, was their Delight, / And pleaſing Chat, prolong'd the Summers-night.
1700, [John] Dryden, “The Twelfth Book of Ovid his Metamorphoses, Wholly Translated”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 427
I remember to have ſeen him, after giving his opinion that the colouring of a picture was not mellow enough, very deliberately take a bruſh with brown varniſh, that was accidentally lying in the place, and rub it over the piece with great compoſure before all the company, and then aſk if he had not improved the tints.
1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], “The History of a Philosophic Vagabond, Pursuing Novelty, but Losing Content”, in The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume II, Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […]; reprinted London: Elliot Stock, 1885, page 28
[F]rom the neighbouring water, hear at morn / The hound, the horses' tread, and mellow horn; […]
1787–1789, William Wordsworth, “An Evening Walk, Addressed to a Young Lady”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hayes & Zell, […], published 1860, page 27, column 2
But being the prima donna's near relation, / Who swore his voice was very rich and mellow, / They hired him, though to hear him you'd believe / An ass was practising recitative.
1821 August 8, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, Cantos III, IV, and V, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], canto IV, stanza LXXXVII, page 114
It was from gazing on the fairy hues, / That hung around the born and dying day; / The tender flush, whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light, and where it lay / Deep-bosom'd in a still and waveless bay, / The sea reflected all that glow'd above, […]
1822, James G[ates] Percival, “Canto XXVII”, in Prometheus, Part II: With Other Poems, New Haven, Conn.: […] A. H. Maltby and Co., page 18
True, there were the usual night-sounds of the country—the whir of night-birds, the buzzing of insects, the barking of distant dogs, the mellow lowing of far-off kine—but these didn't seem to break the stillness, they only intensified it, and added a grewsome melancholy to it into the bargain.
1889, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “The Battle of the Sand-belt”, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, New York, N.Y.: Charles L. Webster & Company, page 560
It was October again when Anne was ready to go back to school—a glorious October, all red and gold, with mellow mornings when the valleys were filled with delicate mists as if the spirit of autumn had poured them in for the sun to drain—amethyst, pearl, silver, rose, and smoke-blue.
1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “Miss Stacy and Her Pupils Get Up a Concert”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), page 264
When they told her about the robin and the first flight of the young ones she laughed a motherly little mellow laugh in her throat.
1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘It’s Mother!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, published 1911, page 349
Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
Well-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.
Quotations
The cauſe vvas mine, I might haue died for both: / My yeeres vvere mellow, his but young and greene, / My death vvere naturall, but his vvas forced.
c. 1587 (date written), [Thomas Kyd], The Spanish Tragedie: […] (Fourth Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for T[homas] Pauier, […], published 1602, Act I
O! while they minister to thee, / Each vying with the other, / May Health return to mellow Age, / With Strength, her venturous brother; […]
1831, William Wordsworth, “Yarrow Revisited”, in Yarrow Revisited, and Other Poems, London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, […]; and Edward Moxon, […], published 1835, page 6
But crispness was no longer Marilla's distinguishing characteristic. As Mrs. Lynde told her Thomas that night. "Marilla Cuthbert has got mellow. That's what."
1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Bend in the Road”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, published August 1909 (11th printing), page 426
Cheerful, genial, jovial, merry; also, easygoing, laid-back, relaxed.
Quotations
In all thy humours, whether grave or mellow, / Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow; / Hast so much wit, and mirth, and spleen about thee, / There is no living with thee, nor without thee.A translation of Martial’s Epigrams, book XII, number 47.
1711 May 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “FRIDAY, May 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 68; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, page 417
The Baronet was when I saw him as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound; and the love he had once felt for one woman had spread itself over the whole sex; so that there was not a pretty face in the whole country round, but came in for a share.
1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “A Hunting Dinner”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], page 10
I'm just mad about Saffron / A-Saffron's mad about me / I'm-a just mad about Saffron / She's just mad about me / They call me mellow yellow (quite rightly) / They call me mellow yellow (quite rightly) / They call me mellow yellow
1966 October 24, Donovan Phillips Leitch (lyrics and music), “Mellow Yellow”, in Mellow Yellow, performed by Donovan
Drunk, intoxicated; especially slightly or pleasantly so, or to an extent that makes one cheerful and friendly.
Quotations
[…] Tanee was accosted by certain good fellows, friends and boon companions, who condoled with him on his misfortunes—railed against the queen, and finally dragged him away to an illicit vender of spirits, in whose house the party got gloriously mellow.
1847 March 30, Herman Melville, “Queen Pomaree”, in Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], page 309
Now the master, mellow almost to the verge of geniality, put his chair aside, turned his back to his audience, and began to draw a map of America on the blackboard, to exercise the geography class upon.
1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXI, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, page 174
(chiefly US, slang) Pleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce such effects.
Quotations
These boys were heavy smokers, and like my high school classmates, were always "high", "cool" and "mellow." They were never violent and were helpful and respectful to the adults in our village.
2004, Cecil Young, “Department of Health”, in One Canada: Creating the Greatest Country on Earth, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 266
Late that night, everyone was sprawled on the sofas and bean bags in the lounge room, mellow because they'd smoked a couple of joints of hash.
2014, Julie McSorley, Marcus McSorley, “Part One: Early 1980s”, in Out of the Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler, Berkeley, Calif.: Roaring Forties Press, page 30
noun
plural mellows
(specifically) A comfortable or relaxed mood.
Quotations
Yet, conversely, some people searched for the mellow […] Hope for flower power had faded, though the journey into the mellow did not represent idealism; rather, it spelled escape— […]
1997, Neil A. Hamilton, The ABC-CLIO Companion to the 1960s Counterculture in America, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, page 258, column 1
Nothing like a suicide to harsh a mellow. On their third date, Lizzie had actually said to him, "You're sort of harshing my mellow." It made him wonder if she might be stupid, and not just young.
1999, Kurt Andersen, chapter 37, in Turn of the Century, New York, N.Y.: Random House, part 3 (June, July, August, September, October), page 508
verb
third-person singular simple present mellows, present participle mellowing, simple past and past participle mellowed
(transitive)
To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
Quotations
Ever since we last saw her, in the interval between the spring and the autumn, the year had ripened the youth of the maiden, as it had mellowed the fruits of the earth; […]
1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter V, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], book III (The House of Godwin), page 218
(archaic except Britain, regional) To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
Quotations
This City is built of white Sun-burnt brickes, is watered with a ſmall ſtreame, which runs in two parts through the Towne, and meloes moſt of the Gardens and Groues within her, whereby ſhee yeelds a thankfull tribute of ſundry fruits.
1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Tyroan”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, page 115
Having therefore made choice of ſome fit place of Ground, […] let it be Broken up the Winter before you ſow, to mellow it, eſpecially if it be a Clay, and then the furrow would be made deeper; […]
1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “. Chapter II. Of the Seminary.”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], page 6
(figuratively)
To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
Quotations
VVas thought-exceeding glorification, ſuch a cloyance and cumber vnto me, that I muſt leaue it: as Archeſilaus ouer-melodied, and too-much melovved & ſugred with ſvveet tunes, turned them aſide, and cauſed his ears to be nevv reliſhed vvith harſh ſovver and vnſauory ſounds?
1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], folio 16, verso
The page was eaſily mellowd with his attractive eloquence, as what heart of adamant, or encloſed in a crocodyles ſkin (which no yron will pierce) that hath the power to withſtand the Mercurian heavenly charme of hys rhetorique?
1596, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Dialogus”, in Haue with You to Saffron-Walden. Or, Gabriell Harveys Hunt is Up. […], London: […] John Danter; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Have with You to Saffron-Walden (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), page 106
For time ſhall with his ready pencil ſtand; / Retouch your figures with his ripening hand; / Mellow your colors, and imbrown the teint; / Add every grace, which time alone can grant; / To future ages ſhall your fame convey, / And give more beauties than he takes away.
a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Epistle the Fourteenth. To Sir Godfrey Kneller, Principal Painter to His Majesty.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, page 201
[B]y the prevalence of fanaticiſm, a gloomy and ſullen diſpoſition eſtabliſhed itſelf among the people; a ſpirit, obſtinate and dangerous; independent and diſorderly; animated equally with a contempt of authority, and a hatred to every other mode of religion, particularly to the catholic. In order to mellow these humours, James [VI and I] endeavoured to infuſe a ſmall tincture of ceremony into the national worſhip, and to introduce ſuch rites as might, in ſome degree, occupy the mind, and pleaſe the ſenſes, without departing too far from that ſimplicity, by which the reformation was diſtinguiſhed.
1754, David Hume, “[James I.] Chapter III.”, in The History of Great Britain, under the House of Stuart, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1759, page 54
Ever, as on they bore, more loud / And louder rung the pibroch proud. / At first the sounds, by distance tame, / Mellowed along the waters came, / And, lingering long by cape and bay, / Wailed every harsher note away; […]
1810, Walter Scott, “Canto II. The Island.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, stanza XVII, page 67
To cause (a person) to become calmer, gentler, and more understanding, particularly from age or experience.
(chiefly passive voice) To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
Quotations
In the course of the day [Manuel] Lisa undertook to tamper with the faith of Pierre Dorion [Jr.], and, inviting him on board of his boat, regaled him with his favorite whiskey. When he thought him sufficiently mellowed, he proposed to him to quit the service of his new employers and return to his old allegiance.
1836 October, Washington Irving, chapter XIX, in Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, pages 204–205
(intransitive)
(figuratively)
To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.
Quotations
So now proſperitie begins to mellow / And drop into the rotten mouth of Death: […]
c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iv], page 77
The Bannana's [taste] is no leſſe dainty: the tree mounts not high, but ſpreads in a moſt gracefull poſture: the fruit is long, not unlike a Soſſage in ſhape, in taſt moſt excellent: they ripen though you crop them immaturely; and from a dark-greene, mellow into a flaming yellow: […]
1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, book III, page 297
The broad sun set, but not with lingering sweep, / As in the North he mellows o'er the deep, / But fiery, full and fierce, as if he left / The world forever, earth of light bereft, […]
1823, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in The Island, or Christian and His Comrades, London: […] John Hunt, […], stanza XVI, page 36, lines 360–363
The very furniture of the room seemed to mellow and deepen in its tone; the ceiling and walls looked blacker and more highly polished, the curtains of a ruddier red; the fire burnt clear and high, and the crickets in the hearth-stone chirped with a more than wonted satisfaction.
1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], chapter 11, page 297