melt
v.v. to change from a solid into a liquid because of heat. You use this when ice turns into water or chocolate gets soft in the sun.
v. to change from a solid to a liquid state through the application of heat. Often used figuratively to describe a person's emotions softening.
The ice cream will melt if you leave it on the table.
The spring sun began to melt the thick snow on the mountain peaks, causing the rivers to rise.
As the global temperature continues to climb, polar ice caps melt at an accelerated rate, contributing significantly to the rise in sea levels across the planet.
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”).
The verb can be used both transitively ('heat melts the ice') and intransitively ('the ice melts').
- 01
butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth
The identified person appears to be benign, mild-mannered, or calm (but with an integral suggestion that, to the contrary, they really are untrustworthy, disagreeable, or mean-spirited).
- 02
melt in the mouth
To be deliciously soft and creamy; to create a melting sensation when eaten; to need little chewing.
- 03
melt into
To disappear gradually into.