melt

¹

[ melt ]

verb (used without object)

, melt·ed, melt·ed or mol·ten [mohl, -tn], melt·ing.

1. to become liquefied by warmth or heat, as ice, snow, butter, or metal.
2. to become liquid; dissolve:

   Let the cough drop melt in your mouth.

3. to pass, dwindle, or fade gradually (often followed by away ):

   His fortune slowly melted away.

4. to pass, change, or blend gradually (often followed by into ):

   Night melted into day.

   Synonyms: fade

5. to become softened in feeling by pity, sympathy, love, or the like:

   The tyrant's heart would not melt.

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

verb (used with object)

, melt·ed, melt·ed or mol·ten [mohl, -tn], melt·ing.

1. to reduce to a liquid state by warmth or heat; fuse:

   Fire melts ice.

2. to cause to pass away or fade.
3. to cause to pass, change, or blend gradually.
4. to soften in feeling, as a person or the heart.

   Synonyms: touch, mollify, disarm, affect

noun

1. the act or process of melting; state of being melted.
2. something that is melted.
3. a quantity melted at one time.
4. a sandwich or other dish topped with cheese and heated through until the cheese melts:

   a tuna melt.

melt

²

[ melt ]

noun

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

melt

/ mɛlt /

verb

1. to liquefy (a solid) or (of a solid) to become liquefied, as a result of the action of heat
2. to become or make liquid; dissolve

   cakes that melt in the mouth

3. often foll by away to disappear; fade
4. foll by down to melt (metal scrap) for reuse
5. often foll by into to blend or cause to blend gradually
6. to make or become emotional or sentimental; soften

noun

1. the act or process of melting
2. something melted or an amount melted

melt

/ mĕlt /

1. To change from a solid to a liquid state by heating or being heated with sufficient energy at the melting point.
2. See also heat of fusion

Derived Forms

• ˈmelter, noun
• ˈmeltingness, noun
• ˈmeltable, adjective
• ˈmeltingly, adverb
• ˌmeltaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• melt·a·ble adjective
• melt·a·bil·i·ty [mel-t, uh, -, bil, -i-tee], noun
• melt·ing·ly adverb
• melt·ing·ness noun
• non·melt·a·ble adjective
• non·melt·ing adjective
• un·melt·a·ble adjective
• un·melt·ed adjective
• un·melt·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of melt¹

First recorded 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”

Origin of melt²

First recorded in 1575–85; variant of milt

Word History and Origins

Origin of melt¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

In addition to the idiom beginning with melt , also see butter wouldn't melt .

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

In addition to direct application, stormwater runoff and snow melt can contribute to these chemicals in ground and surface water.

From Science Daily

It will also hone the technology to reach 13 to 15 kilometers, where it can be nearly hot enough to melt lead and pressures are higher than those in the deepest ocean trenches.

From Science Magazine

Stephen, recruited for his ability to provide the necessary tools, had produced a 100-tonne jack, explosives, and a thermal lance, which heats and melts steel with pressurized oxygen to create very high temperatures.

From BBC

The snowfall pattern is changing and then the melting of the glacier is changing.

From BBC

Don’t ask me why metal melted and double-paned windows shattered but a house made of wood didn’t ignite.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• disappear
• disintegrate
• evaporate
• fade
• heat
• soften
• thaw
• vanish
• warm