▪ I. melting, vbl. n.
(ˈmɛltɪŋ)
[f. melt v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. melt; an instance of this.
| 1390–1 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 86 Et pro meltyng de sepo et iiij lb. pinguedinum, vj s. pr. 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 109/1 The maistr' of his mynt..to have and take for his labour of double meltyng, blaunchyng, wast and other costs vii d in nombre. 1483 Cath. Angl. 234/1 A Meltynge, deliquium, liquamen, liquefaccio. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 150 There foloweth the moost blessed effecte, that is a liquefaction or a meltynge of the soule. 1722 Bp. E. Gibson tr. Camden's Brit. (ed. 2) I. p. clxxiii, Ley, lee, lay, are all from the Saxon Leaᵹ, a field or pasture; by the usual melting of the letter ᵹ. 1740 W. Seward Jrnl. 13 There was much melting under both Sermons. 1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opin. lxxx. (1783) III. 94, I shall be with you and your good man again, in the melting of a lump of sugar. 1797 tr. C. De Massoul's Treat. Art Paint. 57 If, after every melting, you perceive that any air-bubbles have arisen, or [etc.]. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 20 Even in abscesses, where there is a loss of substance, it is not the melting down of the solids that gives rise to the pus. 1868 Joynson Metals 68 The strength is increased up to a certain number of meltings. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 477 The injections [of thyroid gland extract]..were found to bring about a rapid melting away of the swelling. |
† b. Surveyor of the Meltings: the former designation of a certain officer of the mint. Hence
the Meltings: the office of the Surveyor of the Meltings.
| 1684 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. ii. 224 The Surveyor of the Melting. 1766 Entick London IV. 341 Surveyor of the meltings, clerk of the irons. 1807–8 Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. iii. Wks. (1850) 497 Suppose the person to whom he [sc. the Chancellor of the Exchequer] applied for the Meltings had withstood every plea of wife and fourteen children, no business, and good character, and refused him this paltry little office [etc.]. Ibid., But do not refuse me the Irons and the Meltings now. |
2. concr. pl. That which has been melted; a substance produced by melting. ?
Obs.| 1558 Warde (title) The Secretes of the reverende Maister Alexis of Piemovnt. Containyng excellente remedies against diuers diseases,..with the manner to make distillations,..fusions and meltynges. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 188 Such Waters..are no more than a Collection of Rain-Water, and the Meltings of Snow. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple attributive, as
melting chamber,
melting-furnace,
melting-oven,
melting-pan,
melting-place,
melting-shop.
b. Special comb.:
melting-book, an account-book kept to record quantities of metal melted;
melting-cone (see
quot.);
melting-heat, the degree of heat which is necessary to melt a given substance;
melting-house, a building in which the process of melting is carried on,
esp. at the Mint;
melting-point (see
quot. 1842);
melting-pot, a vessel in which metals or other substances are melted (phrases,
to put or cast into the melting pot; often
fig. with reference to thorough remodelling of institutions, etc.).
| 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 283 As for your *Melting booke where the allay is entred, if you will charge the Mint-master thereby, let it be done distinctly for siluer, and copper, or [etc.]. |
| 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 14 Into these red-hot chambers the fresh gas and air are turned and heated before they enter the *melting-chamber. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Melting Cone, in assaying, is a small vessel made of copper or brass, of a conic figure, and of a nicely polished surface within. |
| 1758 Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 187 The *melting furnace is designed for applying the greatest force of heat to the most fixed bodies, such as metals and earths. |
| 1868 Joynson Metals 102 The *melting heat is 442° Fahr. |
| 1431 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) II. 16 Lego..Johanni Beverlay omnia instrumenta et necessaria shopæ meæ ad le *meltynghouse. 1647 Haward Crown Rev. 23 Surveyor of the melting-house. 1778 J. Miller in Grose Antiq. Repert. (1807) I. 241, I should refer the three Roman numerals as a melting-house mark..to the number of Pigs melted. 1854 Hull Improv. Act 33 Any candle-house, melting-house, melting-place or soap-house. |
| 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. iii. x. 247 The *melting Oven to try the Copper Oars from the copper-stone. |
| 1884 Imp. & Mach. Rev. 1 Dec. 6711/1 The sugar..passes..into the ‘blow-ups’ or *melting pans. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 234/1 A *Meltynge place, conflatorium. |
| 1842 Francis Dict. Arts etc., s.v., That point of the thermometer which indicates the heat at which any particular solid becomes fluid, is termed the *melting point of that solid. 1898 Rev. Brit. Pharm. 51 Solubilities and melting-points are given in much fuller detail than in the last edition. |
| 1545 Rates Custom-ho. b viij, *Meltynge pottes for goldsmethes. 1679 Dryden Pref. to Tr. & Cr. Ess. (ed. Ker) I. 227 If his embroideries were burnt down, there would still be silver at the bottom of the melting-pot. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. xiv. ix. IX. 311 The avarice which cast all these wonderful statues into the melting pot to turn them into money. 1861 Fairbairn Iron 181 These are melted in steel melting-pots. 1887 J. Morley in Pall Mall G. 10 Feb. 11/2, I think it will be best for the Constitution of this country not to send it to the melting-pot. |
| 1555 Eden Decades Pref. (Arb.) 54 In the two *meltynge shoppes of the gold mines of the Ilande of Hispaniola is molten yearely three hundreth thousande pounde weyght. 1892 Labour Commission Gloss., Melting Shop and Plant, the furnaces used in the melting and converting of iron into steel and the producers for the making of gas for such furnaces. |
▪ II. melting, ppl. a. (
ˈmɛltɪŋ)
[f. melt v.1 + -ing2.] That melts, in senses of the
vb. 1. In intransitive senses:
a. That is in process of liquefaction;
† capable of liquefaction, fusible (
obs.). Also,
† decaying.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. vii. (1495) 556 The element and mater of whiche all meltyng metall is made [L. omnium liquidabilium metallorum]. 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1650) 161 His whole body larded and distilled much like unto..melting wax. 1605 1st Pt. Ieronimo iii. ii. 163 Honord Funerall for thy melting corse. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 76 The whole is to be kept in a melting state for some minutes. |
b. Yielding to tender emotion; feeling or expressing tenderness or pity; tearful. Often in
phr. the melting mood, after
Shakes.| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1227 Each flowre moistned like a melting eye. 1597 ― 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 32 A Hand Open (as Day) for melting Charitie. 1601 ― Jul. C. ii. i. 122 To steele with valour The melting spirits of women. 1604 ― Oth. v. ii. 349 Albeit vn-vsed to the melting moode. 1658 Whole Duty Man xv. §3 Our compassions are to be most melting towards them of all others. 1712–14 Pope Rape Lock i. 71 What guards the purity of Melting maids In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades? 1879 Froude Cæsar viii. 72 He was a high-spirited ornamental youth, with soft melting eyes. |
c. Of sound: Liquid and soft, delicately modulated. Also of form, colour, etc.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §223 No Instrument hath the Sound so Melting and prolonged as the Irish Harp. 1632 Milton L'Allegro 142 The melting voice through mazes running. 1713 Gay Fan ii. 14 And thus in melting sounds her speech began. a 1761 Cawthorn Poems (1771) 37 That step, whose motion seems to swim, That melting harmony of limb. 1849 Ruskin Sev. Lamps iv. §39. 129 The most exquisite harmonies..soft and full, of flushed and melting spaces of colour. 1885 G. Allen Babylon v, Her pretty, melting native dialect. |
d. That ‘melts in the mouth’, tender. Said
esp. of varieties of pear; also of those varieties of peach that part easily from the stone:
cf. melter.
| 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. i. (1607) B b, You shall ha' some will swallow A melting heire, as glibly, as your Dutch Will pills of butter. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Nectarine, This is a very well flavoured nectarine, of a soft, melting juice, and parts from the stone. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Stock, Summer peaches (commonly distinguished by the appellation of melting peaches). 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1872) 27 No one would expect to raise a first-rate melting pear from the seed of the wild pear. |
2. In transitive senses:
a. That liquifies or dissolves (
rare).
b. That softens the heart; deeply touching or affecting.
| 1611 Bible Isa. lxiv. 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boyle. 1656 J. Owen Mortif Sin Wks. 1851 VI. 77 God's peace is humbling, melting peace. 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 439 The charms of a most melting and affectionate rhetorick. 1715–20 Pope Iliad. xxi. 83 While thus these melting words attempt his heart. 1739 Joe Miller's Jests No. 118 A melting Sermon being preach'd in a Country Church. 1826 E. Irving Babylon II. 409 When Jeremy the prophet poured over them his melting lamentations in vain. |
3. Comb.:
melting-hearted adj.,
melting-heartedness.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. 31 Exclayming, for some melting-harted man, to come and rydde them out of theyr lingring-lyuing death. 1647 Trapp Comm. 1 Cor. xi. 11 There must be all mutuall respects and melting-heartednesse betwixt married couples. |