different between mellow vs dull

English

Etymology

From Middle English melowe, melwe (“soft, sweet, juicy”), variant of Middle English merow, merwe (“soft, tender”), from Old English meru, mearu (“tender, soft, callow, delicate, frail”), from Proto-Germanic *marwaz (“mellow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mer(w)- (“to rub, pack”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian muur (“tender”), West Frisian murf (“tender”), Dutch murw (“tender”), German Low German möör (“tender”), German mürbe (“tender, soft”), Old Norse mör (“tender; aching”), Icelandic meyr (“tender”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m?l??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?lo?/

• Rhymes: -?l??

Adjective

mellow (comparative mellower or more mellow, superlative mellowest or most mellow)

1. Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

2. Easily worked or penetrated; not hard or rigid.

   • flowers of rank and mellow glebe

3. Not coarse, rough, or harsh; subdued, soft, rich, delicate; said of sound, color, flavor, style, etc.
   • 1820, William Wordsworth, The Valley of Dover

     the mellow horn

   • 1821, James Gates Percival, Prometheus

     The tender flush whose mellow stain imbues / Heaven with all freaks of light.

4. Well matured; softened by years; genial; jovial.
   • December 11, 1834, William Wordsworth, to Samuel Rogers Esq

     May health return to mellow age.

   • as merry and mellow an old bachelor as ever followed a hound

5. Relaxed; calm; easygoing; laid-back.
6. Warmed by liquor, slightly intoxicated, stoned, or high.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Addison to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (tender): See Thesaurus:soft
• (not hard): yielding; See also Thesaurus:soft
• (not harsh): merry
• (genial): convivial, gay, genial, jovial
• (relaxed): easy-breezy, casual
• (slightly intoxicated): See Thesaurus:drunk or Thesaurus:stoned

Derived terms

• mellowness

Translations

Noun

mellow (plural mellows)

1. A relaxed mood.

Derived terms

• harsh one's mellow

Verb

mellow (third-person singular simple present mellows, present participle mellowing, simple past and past participle mellowed)

1. (transitive) To make mellow; to relax or soften.
2. (intransitive) To become mellow.
   • 1592-94, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act IV Scene 4

     So now prosperity begins to mellow
     And drop into the rotten mouth of death.

Derived terms

• mellow out
• unmellowed

English

Alternative forms

• dul, dulle (all obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English dull, dul (also dyll, dill, dwal), from Old English dol (“dull, foolish, erring, heretical; foolish, silly; presumptuous”), from Proto-Germanic *dulaz, a variant of *dwalaz (“stunned, mad, foolish, misled”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?wel-, *d?ewel- (“to dim, dull, cloud, make obscure, swirl, whirl”). Cognate with Scots dull, doll (“slow to understand or hear, deaf, dull”), North Frisian dol (“rash, unthinking, giddy, flippant”), Dutch dol (“crazy, mad, insane”), Low German dul, dol (“mad, silly, stupid, fatuous”), German toll (“crazy, mad, wild, fantastic”), Danish dval (“foolish, absurd”), Icelandic dulur (“secretive, silent”), West-Flemish dul (angry, furious).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?l/
  • (Canada) IPA^(key): /d?l/, /d?l/, /d??/
• (US)
• Rhymes: -?l

Adjective

dull (comparative duller, superlative dullest)

1. Lacking the ability to cut easily; not sharp.

2. Boring; not exciting or interesting.

3. Not shiny; having a matte finish or no particular luster or brightness.

   a dull fire or lamp;? a dull red or yellow;? a dull mirror

   • A great bargain also had been the excellent Axminster carpet which covered the floor; as, again, the arm-chair in which Bunting now sat forward, staring into the dull, small fire.

4. Not bright or intelligent; stupid; having slow understanding.
5. Sluggish, listless.

   • This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, Faerie Queene

     O, help my weak wit and sharpen my dull tongue.
6. Cloudy, overcast.

7. Insensible; unfeeling.

   • Think me not / So dull a devil to forget the loss / Of such a matchless wife.

8. Heavy; lifeless; inert.
   • c. 1857', Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Table-Talk

     As turning the logs will make a dull fire burn, so changes of study a dull brain.

9. (of pain etc) Not intense; felt indistinctly or only slightly.

   Pressing on the bruise produces a dull pain.

10. (of a noise or sound) Not clear, muffled.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:boring
• See also Thesaurus:stupid
• (not shiny): lackluster, matte

Antonyms

• bright
• intelligent
• sharp

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

dull (third-person singular simple present dulls, present participle dulling, simple past and past participle dulled)

1. (transitive) To render dull; to remove or blunt an edge or something that was sharp.

   Years of misuse have dulled the tools.

   • 1623, Francis Bacon, A Discourse of a War with Spain

     This […] dulled their swords.

2. (transitive) To soften, moderate or blunt; to make dull, stupid, or sluggish; to stupefy.

   He drinks to dull the pain.

   • 1850, Richard Chenevix Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord

     Use and custom have so dulled our eyes.

3. (intransitive) To lose a sharp edge; to become dull.

   A razor will dull with use.

4. To render dim or obscure; to sully; to tarnish.

Synonyms

• dullen

Translations

References

• dull in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• dull in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• ULDL

Welsh

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dey?- (“to show, point out”).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /d???/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /d??/

Noun

dull m (plural dulliau)

1. method

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “dull”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

References