milden, v.
(ˈmaɪld(ə)n)
[f. mild a. + -en5.]
1. trans. To make mild or milder.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. xii. 620 The very names by which they call diseases doe somewhat mylden and diminish the sharpnes of them. 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 63 (1822) II. 83 What follows..is mildened a little by the introduction of the name of Erasmus, More's intimate friend. 1900 A. B. Davidson in Expositor Jan. 9 Polygamy and slavery were treated in two ways: their use was mildened and circumscribed. |
2. intr. To become mild or milder.
| 1853 [see mildening, ppl. a.]. 1882 in Imperial Dict. Suppl. |
Hence ˈmildened, ˈmildening ppl. adjs.
| 1842 Card. Wiseman Prayer & Prayer-Bks. Ess. 1853 I. 397 It is not Saul alone..that hath felt the mildening and calming influence of David's harp. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxvii. (1856) 341 The mildening temperature. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 315 Suffused with a tremulous, glooming glow, a mildened glory. |