melt

[melt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR melt ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), melt·ed, melt·ed or mol·ten, melt·ing.

to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.

to become liquid; dissolve: Let the cough drop melt in your mouth.

to pass, dwindle, or fade gradually (often followed by away): His fortune slowly melted away.

to pass, change, or blend gradually (often followed by into): Night melted into day.

to become softened in feeling by pity, sympathy, love, or the like: The tyrant's heart would not melt.

Obsolete. to be subdued or overwhelmed by sorrow, dismay, etc.

verb (used with object), melt·ed, melt·ed or mol·ten, melt·ing.

to reduce to a liquid state by warmth or heat; fuse: Fire melts ice.

to cause to pass away or fade.

to cause to pass, change, or blend gradually.

to soften in feeling, as a person or the heart.

noun

the act or process of melting; state of being melted.

something that is melted.

a quantity melted at one time.

a sandwich or other dish topped with melted cheese: a tuna melt.

Origin of melt

before 900; Middle English melten, Old English meltan (intransitive), m(i)elten (transitive) to melt, digest; cognate with Old Norse melta to digest, Greek méldein to melt

Related formsmelt·a·ble, adjectivemelt·a·bil·i·ty, nounmelt·ing·ly, adverbmelt·ing·ness, nounnon·melt·a·ble, adjectivenon·melt·ing, adjectiveun·melt·a·ble, adjectiveun·melt·ed, adjectiveun·melt·ing, adjective

Can be confusedevanescence evaporation liquefaction melting thawing transpiration vaporization

Synonyms for melt

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR melt ON THESAURUS.COM

1. Melt, dissolve, fuse, thaw imply reducing a solid substance to a liquid state. To melt is to bring a solid to a liquid condition by the agency of heat: to melt butter. Dissolve, though sometimes used interchangeably with melt, applies to a different process, depending upon the fact that certain solids, placed in certain liquids, distribute their particles throughout the liquids: A greater number of solids can be dissolved in water and in alcohol than in any other liquids. To fuse is to subject a solid (usually a metal) to a very high temperature; it applies especially to melting or blending metals together: Bell metal is made by fusing copper and tin. To thaw is to restore a frozen substance to its normal (liquid, semiliquid, or more soft and pliable) state by raising its temperature above the freezing point: Sunshine will thaw ice in a lake. 4. dwindle. 10. gentle, mollify, relax.

melt

[melt]

noun

the spleen, especially that of a cow, pig, etc.

Also milt.

Origin of melt

First recorded in 1575–85; variant of milt

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for melt

thaw, disintegrate, evaporate, soften, heat, warm, fade, vanish, disappear, touch, deliquesce, run, evanesce, render, merge, flow, flux, fuse, disperse, go

Examples from the Web for melt

Contemporary Examples of melt

While the beans are cooling and drying, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.
Make Carla Hall’s Crispy Shallot Green Bean Casserole
Carla Hall
December 27, 2014
Add chocolate and butter to the bowl and melt, stirring to combine.
Carla Hall’s Christmas Day Treat: Rum Balls
Carla Hall
December 25, 2014
Melt butter and marshmallow in big stock pot then add puffed rice cereal.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the Cinnabattleship
Harley Morenstein
July 26, 2014
Friction between air and the weapon creates temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt steel.
Death at Five Times the Speed of Sound
Kyle Mizokami
June 23, 2014
Combined, those give the planet a year-round surface temperature hot enough to melt lead.
What Does the Discovery of “Another Earth” Mean for Us?
Matthew R. Francis
April 18, 2014

Historical Examples of melt

If the ice that froze up the spring of his love would but begin to melt!
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
I'm fit to melt—there is no strength left in me; here, come and take the rod!'
Camps, Quarters and Casual Places
Archibald Forbes
Put some butter into a sauce-pan, set it on hot coals, and melt and skim it.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Put the sugar to melt in the liquid, and let it set all night.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie
Melt a pound of butter by putting it into a skillet on hot coals.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Eliza Leslie

British Dictionary definitions for melt

melt

verb melts, melting, melted, melted or molten (ˈməʊltən)

to liquefy (a solid) or (of a solid) to become liquefied, as a result of the action of heat

to become or make liquid; dissolvecakes that melt in the mouth

(often foll by away) to disappear; fade

(foll by down) to melt (metal scrap) for reuse

(often foll by into) to blend or cause to blend gradually

to make or become emotional or sentimental; soften

noun

the act or process of melting

something melted or an amount melted

Derived Formsmeltable, adjectivemeltability, nounmelter, nounmeltingly, adverbmeltingness, noun

Word Origin for melt

Old English meltan to digest; related to Old Norse melta to malt (beer), digest, Greek meldein to melt

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for melt

Old English meltan "become liquid, consume by fire, burn up" (class III strong verb; past tense mealt, past participle molten), from Proto-Germanic *meltanan; fused with Old English gemæltan (Anglian), gemyltan (West Saxon) "make liquid," from Proto-Germanic *gamaltijanan (cf. Old Norse melta "to digest"), both from PIE *meldh-, (cf. Sanskrit mrduh "soft, mild," Greek meldein "to melt, make liquid," Latin mollis "soft, mild"), from root *mel- "soft," with derivatives referring to soft or softened (especially ground) materials (see mild). Figurative use by c.1200. Related: Melted; melting.

Of food, to melt in (one's) mouth is from 1690s. Melting pot is from 1540s; figurative use from 1855; popularized with reference to America by play "The Melting Pot" by Israel Zangwill (1908).

1854, "molten metal," from melt (v.). In reference to a type of sandwich topped by melted cheese, 1980, American English.

melt in Science