\Mel"low\, a. [Compar. {Mellower}; superl. {Mellowest}.]
[OE. melwe; cf. AS. mearu soft, D. murw, Prov. G. mollig
soft, D. malsch, and E. meal flour.]
1. Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender
   pulp; as, a mellow apple.
2. Hence:
   (a) Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid; as, a
       mellow soil. ``Mellow glebe.'' --Drayton
   (b) Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued; soft; rich;
       delicate; -- said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
       ``The mellow horn.'' --Wordsworth. ``The mellow-tasted
       Burgundy.'' --Thomson.
             The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues
             Heaven with all freaks of light.  --Percival.
3. Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.
         May health return to mellow age.      --Wordsworth.
         As merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed
         a hound.                              --W. Irving.
4. Warmed by liquor; slightly intoxicated. --Addison.

\Mel"low\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mellowed}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Mellowing}.]
To make mellow. --Shak.
      If the Weather prove frosty to mellow it [the ground],
      they do not plow it again till April.    --Mortimer.
      The fervor of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by
      the ripeness of age.                     --J. C.
                                               Shairp.

\Mel"low\, v. i.
To become mellow; as, ripe fruit soon mellows. ``Prosperity
begins to mellow.'' --Shak.