Ma-tūre'1, a.
a. [compar. MATURER; superl. MATUR-EST.] [Lat. maturus, It. matūro, Sp. & Pg. maduro, Pr. madur, O. Fr. matür, meür, N. Fr. mür.]
Sense 1. Brought by natural process to completeness or perfection of growth or development; prepared or fitted by growth or development for any situation or function; full-grown; ripe.
Their prince is a man of learning and virtue, mature in years. Addison.
How shall I meet, or how accost, the sage, Unskilled in speech, nor yet mature of age? Pope.
Sense 2. Completely worked out; fully digested; made ready for destined application or use.
This lies glowing, and is mature for the violent breaking out. Shak.
Sense 3. Come to suppuration.
Synonyms—Ripe; perfect; completed; prepared; digested; ready.—MATURE, RIPE. Both words describe fullness of growth. Mature brings to view the process; ripe indicates the result. We speak of a thing as mature when thinking of the successive stages through which it has passed; as ripe, when our attention is directed to its ends or uses. A mature judgment, mature consideration; ripe fruit; a ripe scholar. A character is matured by experience or by time; it is ripened for great usefulness, or for the enjoyments of heaven.
O early ripe! to thy abundant store. What could advancing age have added more? Dryden.