melt

From Middle English melten, from a merger of Old English meltan (intransitive) and mieltan (transitive), both meaning “to melt, digest,” from Proto-West Germanic *meltan and *maltijan, from Proto-Germanic *meltaną and *maltijaną, both from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- (“melt”). Cognate with Icelandic melta (“to digest”).

• enPR: mĕlt, IPA^(key): /mɛlt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlt

melt (third-person singular simple present melts, present participle melting, simple past melted or (rare) molt, past participle melted or molten)

1. (ergative) To change (or to be changed) from a solid state to a liquid state, usually by a gradual heat.

   I melted butter to make a cake.

   When the weather is warm, the snowman will disappear; he will melt.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) To dissolve, disperse, vanish.

   His troubles melted away.

   • 2008 October, Davy Rothbart, “How I caught up with dad”, in Men's Health, volume 23, number 8, →ISSN, page 110:

     I gave him a couple of Advil and, after a few minutes, urged him back onto the track. Over the next few laps his pained expression slowly melted, although he still shuffled with a slight limp.

3. (transitive, figurative) 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.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Thou would'st have […] melted down thy youth.

   • 1687, John Dryden, A Song for Cecilia's Day:

     For pity melts the mind to love.

   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXI, page 35:

     The traveller hears me now and then,
     ⁠And sometimes harshly will he speak:
     ⁠‘This fellow would make weakness weak,
     And melt the waxen hearts of men.’

4. (intransitive) To be discouraged.
5. (intransitive, figurative) To be emotionally softened or touched.

   She melted when she saw the romantic message in the Valentine's Day card.

   My heart melted when I first heard the song.

6. (intransitive, colloquial) To be very hot and sweat profusely.

   I need shade! I'm melting!

• (change from solid to liquid): to found, to thaw

• smelt

melt (countable and uncountable, plural melts)

1. Molten material, the product of melting.
   • 2012, Chinle Miller, In Mesozoic Lands: The Mesozoic Geology of Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Kindle edition:

     The crust (a mere 1% of the Earth's volume) is made of lighter melt products from the mantle.

2. The transition of matter from a solid state to a liquid state.
3. The springtime snow runoff in mountain regions.
4. A melt sandwich.
   • 2002, Tod Dimmick, Complete idiot's guide to 20-minute meals:

     I recently asked a group of people whether they had eaten tuna melts as a kid. Everyone remembered a version of this dish.

5. (geology) Rock showing evidence of having been remelted after it originally solidified.

   Numerous samples of breccia and impact melts were recovered by drilling into the floor of the crater.

6. A wax-based substance for use in an oil burner as an alternative to mixing oils and water.

   Synonym: tart

7. (UK, slang, derogatory) An idiot.
   • 2003 June 10, Roo, “See the Quality !!!”, in alt.sports.soccer.everton‎ (Usenet):

     You are from Blackburn you fucking melt...have a bastard word with yourself.

   • 2004 September 20, Diablos Rojos, “North South divide??”, in uk.sport.football.clubs.liverpool‎ (Usenet):

     Kiss it ya melt!

   • 2006 May 30, Dave G, “England vs Hungary...”, in alt.sports.soccer.everton‎ (Usenet):

     LOL! you fucking melt. Get a job.

   • 2017, Love Island On Paper: The Official Love Island Guide to Grafting, Cracking On and Mugging Off‎, →ISBN, page 12:

     Over the course of this chapter on 'Love Island Essentials' we'll be charting exactly who went with who, showing you around the villa, and equipping you with the vocabulary you'll need to avoid looking like a melt and get grafting like a true Islander.

8. Variant spelling of milt, the semen of a male fish, used as food.
   • 1825, Lochandhu: A Tale of the Eighteenth Century‎, page 28:

     A mass of herring melts, tinged with the streams of claret, had fallen into his hair, and this, added to his temporary stupor, had led to the Doctor's mistake.

melt

1. Alternative form of melten