mellows

Verb

mellow (third-person singular simple present mellows, present participle mellowing, simple past and past participle mellowed)

1. (US, informal, transitive) To cause (fruit) to become soft or tender, specifically by ripening.
   • Then Olives, ground in Mills, their fatneſs boaſt, / And Winter Fruits are mellow'd by the Froſt.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, […], →OCLC, page 94
2. (US, informal, transitive) 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. (US, informal, regional, transitive, archaic except UK) To soften (land or soil) and make it suitable for planting in.
   • 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 Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 115
4. (US, figuratively, informal, transitive) To reduce or remove the harshness or roughness from (something); to soften, to subdue, to tone down.
   • 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, […], →OCLC, folio 16, verso
5. (US, figuratively, informal, transitive) 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.
6. (US, figuratively, informal, transitive, chiefly passive voice) To cause (a person) to become slightly or pleasantly drunk or intoxicated.
   • 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...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...

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