melt

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the process whereby heat changes something from a solid to a liquid

   the power failure caused a refrigerator melt that was a disaster

2. 2
   verb

   become less intense and fade away gradually

   The partners' resistance melted when they saw the financial advantage.

3. 3
   verb

   become or cause to become soft or liquid

   The sun melted the ice

4. 4
   verb

   reduce or cause to be reduced from a solid to a liquid state, usually by heating

   melt butter

5. 5
   verb

   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.

6. 6
   verb

   To dissolve, disperse, vanish.

   His troubles melted away.

7. 7
   verb

   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.

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

8. 8
   verb

   To be emotionally softened or touched.

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

Etymology

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”).