molten
[mohl-tn]
- a past participle of melt1.
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- liquefied by heat; in a state of fusion; melted: molten lead.
- produced by melting and casting: a molten image.
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Origin of molten
melt1
[melt]
- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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Origin of melt1
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
Synonyms
See more synonyms for melt on Thesaurus.com1. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for molten
Contemporary Examples
There is no better thing on a Sunday afternoon than a fruity, molten, crunchy crumble.
The moist rectangle of cooked meat and molten blob of cheese are then layered in a hard roll.
When Earth first formed, its surface was molten, so there are no rocks for us to study from that era.
In another clip, an angel made from what appears to be molten lava crawls out of the earth.
Lest you forget our planet has a molten core, this volatile Italian isle will set you straight.
Historical Examples
In a moment the cast drops like a breath on the molten silver.
The ForestStewart Edward White
Where it had been was only blackness and the dying glow of molten rock.
Two Thousand Miles BelowCharles Willard Diffin
He felt it slipping down into his empty stomach, like a steam of molten lead.
The Fat and the ThinEmile Zola
These are mixed while in a molten condition, and are then allowed to cool.
The Automobile Storage BatteryO. A. Witte
His black hair, with the sunset full upon it, was like molten bronze.
The Forbidden TrailHonor Willsie
molten
- liquefied; meltedmolten lead
- made by having been meltedmolten casts
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- the past participle of melt
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melt
- 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
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- the act or process of melting
- something melted or an amount melted
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Word Origin
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 molten
adj.
late 13c., from archaic past participle of Old English meltian, a class III strong verb (see melt (v.)).
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melt
v.
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).
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melt
n.
1854, "molten metal," from melt (v.). In reference to a type of sandwich topped by melted cheese, 1980, American English.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
melt
[mĕlt]
- To change from a solid to a liquid state by heating or being heated with sufficient energy at the melting point. See also heat of fusion.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Idioms and Phrases with molten
melt
In addition to the idiom beginning with melt
also see:
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.