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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Melt

Mĕlt, v. t.

verbtransitive

v.t. [imp. & p. p. MELTED; p. pr. & vb. n. MELTING.] [A-S. meltan, miltan, Icel. melta, allied to Gr. μέλδειν.] The old participle, molten, is used only as an adjective. Cf. SMELT.

  1. To reduce from a solid to a liquid state by heat; to liquefy; to dissolve; as, to melt wax, tallow, or lead; to melt ice or snow.
  2. Hence, to soften, as by a warming or kindly influence; to relax; to render gentle or susceptible to mild influences; sometimes, in a bad sense, to take away the firmness of; to weaken. “In general riot melted down thy youth.” Shak.

For pity melts the mind to love. Dryden. Syn.—To liquefy; dissolve; fuse; thaw; mollify; soften; subdue.

Mĕlt, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To be changed from a fixed or solid to a flowing state; to become liquid; to dissolve.

And whiter snow in minutes melts away. Dryden.

Sense 2. Hence, to be softened to love, pity, tenderness, or sympathy; to become tender, mild, or gentle; also, to be weakened or broken; to be subdued, as by fear. “Melting with tenderness and mild compassion.” Shak.

We sometimes see a face melting into beauty by the force of sentiment. Hazlitt.

Sense 3. To be dissolved; to lose substance; to become dissipated or weak.

My soul melteth for heaviness; strengthen thou me. Ps. cxix. 28.

And what seemed corporal Melted as breath into the wind. Shak.