mellow

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms], from Old English melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or * a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms], from Old English meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; callow”) [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“soft, mellow; brittle, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub; to pack”). The noun and verb are both derived from the adjective. The etymology of noun sense 3 (“close friend; lover”) is unknown, but may also be derived from the adjective. cognates * Dutch murw (“tender”) * German mürbe (“soft, tender”) * German Low German möör (“tender”) * Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”) (Icelandic meyr (“tender”)) * Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”) * West Frisian murf (“tender”)

adj

1. (also figurative, of fruit) Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
   a mellow apple
2. (also figurative, of food or drink, or its flavour) Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
3. (of soil) Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.
4. (chiefly poetic)
   1. (of leaves, seeds, plants, etc.) Mature; of crops: ready to be harvested; ripe.
      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,[…], →OCLC, page 70
   2. (of a place, or the climate or weather) Fruitful and warm.
5. (figurative)
   1. (of colour, sound, style, etc.) Not coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.
      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., →OCLC, page 18
   2. Senses relating to a person or their qualities.
      1. Well-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.
      2. Cheerful, genial, jovial, merry; also, easygoing, laid-back, relaxed.
         (cheerful):
         (relaxed):
         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 24 October 1966, Donovan Phillips Leitch (lyrics and music), “Mellow Yellow”, in Mellow Yellow, performed by Donovan
      3. Drunk, intoxicated; especially slightly or pleasantly so, or to an extent that makes one cheerful and friendly.
      4. (chiefly US, slang) Pleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce such effects.
         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
         "It better be that mellow shit, Kerry," Wendy said, biting into a cookie. "I have to work tomorrow." / "It's mellow shit. You've smoked this stuff before." 2014, Carrie Mesrobian, chapter 9, in Perfectly Good White Boy, Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, Lerner Publishing Group, page 132
6. (chiefly African-American Vernacular, slang) Pleasing in some way; excellent, fantastic, great.

noun

1. The property of being mellow; mellowness.
2. (specifically) A comfortable or relaxed mood.
   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
3. (African-American Vernacular) Also main mellow: a close friend or lover.
   I've got attractions like I'm Elvis Costello / Adam Yauch grab the mic 'cause you know you're my mellow 31 May 1994, Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch (lyrics and music), “Do It”, in Ill Communication, performed by the Beastie Boys

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
   2. To cause (food or drink, for example, cheese or wine, or its flavour) to become matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
   3. (archaic except Britain, regional) To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
   4. (figurative)
      1. To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
      2. To cause (a person) to become calmer, gentler, and more understanding, particularly from age or experience.
         The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.
      3. (chiefly passive) To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
      4. (also reflexive, originally US, informal) Followed by out: to relax (a person); in particular, to cause (a person) to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.
2. (intransitive)
   1. (of food or drink, or its flavour) To mature and lose its harshness or sharpness.
   2. (archaic except Britain, regional, of soil) To be rendered soft and suitable for planting in.
   3. (figurative)
      1. To lose harshness; to become gentler, subdued, or toned down.
      2. (originally US, informal, followed by out, of a person) To relax; in particular, to become pleasantly high or stoned by taking drugs.