1Make or become liquefied by heating.

1. 1.1melt something downwith object Melt a metal article so as to reuse the raw material.
   beautiful objects are being melted down and sold for scrap

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The cans that Montrealers put in their green boxes are compressed into 3’ x 3’ x 4’ bales and sent to companies like Sidbec-Dosco, which melts them down along with old automobile carcasses.
   • And the chances are good that scrap metal dealers in Johannesburg are buying your water meter, melting it down and then selling it off as junk.
   • Cleveland Police said the chain was not something that could be sold on easily, but it might be melted down.
   • Maxfield hoped to buy the inventory, melt it down and create a sculpture from the metal.
   • Some of these same bells were melted down to make ammunition for the struggling Southern war machine.
   • Then you have cases where common people who find antiquities often melt them down for the gold, or simply throw them away.
   • Other companies take scrap metal and melt it down for use in lowgrade metal products like garden furniture and sign posts.
   • The FA Cup was stolen from football outfitters William Shillock in Birmingham - 68 years later an 83-year-old man confessed that he had melted it down to make counterfeit half-crown coins.
   • The king even melted down his own plate to make coins.
   • The better ones were put aside while the old and battered sinkers were melted down using a blowtorch and re-moulded into varying sizes according to the needs of the shopkeeper.
   • Police mounted a lengthy surveillance operation in the grounds of his West Kingsdown home to look for signs that he was transporting the gold in small lots to Bristol where it was melted down and recast, prior to being sold.
   • That the tablet was broken in antiquity can be proved from a scientific analysis of the lines of fracture; maybe someone in ancient times intended to melt it down and reuse the bronze.
   • Guns are often melted down, while hard currency may be donated to a charitable fund.
   • The bell was melted down and recast, then rung carefully for special events.
   • It takes apart the components and melts them down or refurbishes newer models and sells them on to developing countries.
   • Most of the statue will be melted down and used to make a memorial in Texas.
   • If the trade centre scrap reaches specifications it will be melted down and used to configure the cutting edge of the ship's bow, according to a spokesman for Northorp Grumman, the yard operators.
   • All the guns from York and Selby will be sent to North Yorkshire Police headquarters, at Newby Wiske, before being transported to a South Yorkshire company, where they will be melted down and recycled for other uses.
   • But the railings were back up in Bedford Square soon enough and have been ever since (I'm assuming they were removed during the war, as iron railings were melted down for armament production).
   • The metal shavings from drilling the original holes were melted down, and poured back to fill the holes seamlessly.
2. 1.2no object Dissolve in liquid.
   add 400g sugar and boil until the sugar melts

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The ivory dough from the dumplings' outer shell is so tender, they melt in your mouth.
   • Stir often until caramelized sugar melts again and mixture is reduced to about 3/4 cup, about 5 minutes.
   • Stir in gelatine until it has melted, cool slightly then quickly stir in the yoghurt mixture.
   • I like turning those walls to sugar and watching them melt in the rain.
   • The snow was white powdered sugar that quickly melted on the hot banana, just like real snow does when falling onto the ground.
   • Salts conduct electricity well when melted or when dissolved in water or some other solvents but not when they are solid.
   • Cook the cauliflower until almost melting - if it is slightly crunchy, it won't liquidise to a velvety consistency.
   • Heating the sugar until it melts, as practised in many bars, is a Czechoslovakian custom.
   • For filling, heat white chocolate until just melted and cool for 5 minutes.
   • Frayed nerves and tense muscles seemed to melt in the viscous liquid that poured out of the brass container suspended above me.
   • Add the anchovy fillets and cook gently until almost melting.
   • The glass in the tram car windows melted; stocks of sugar boiled in bakery cellars.
   • When the sugar has melted, add all the ingredients, except raisins and salt.
   • Add a small packet of white marshmallows, stir until melted in.
   • Add two tablespoons of honey and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soap has melted.
   • Braise the pear on a slow fire until the crystal sugar melts.
   • We used butter too sometimes, but you need softened butter and butter would also melt the sugar a bit, making the sandwich less crunchy.
   • Put the butter, sugar, cream and golden syrup into a pan and leave over a low heat until the sugar has melted.
   • Heat the butter in a large frying pan and stir in the sugar until melted.
   • Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the sugar, then cook for three-four minutes until it melts and caramelises.
3. 1.3informal no object (of a person) suffer extreme heat.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Well, some are, but that's not why they're melting in High Barnet on the hottest day of the year.
   • Close by was a 90C sauna and steam room where I enjoyed almost melting to death.
   • If I was sweating before, I was practically melting now.
   • Stains around her body show that she had melted to the carpet as a result of the humid weather conditions.
   • Riana felt warm all over, like she was melting and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything besides the sound of Luke's voice.
   • Today the temperature got up to 92 degrees F / 33 degrees C and it felt like I was melting.
   • It is such a GORGEOUS day today, and it's hot, soooo hot, I feel like I'm melting.
   • Melbourne, Australia - At times she looked like she may melt as the center court temperatures soared.

2Make or become more tender or loving.

3no object, with adverbial Disappear or disperse.

1. 3.1melt into Change or merge imperceptibly into (another form or state)
   the cheers melted into gasps of admiration

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Schumacher opens the film in terrific style with a black and white section set in 1919 Paris, which gradually melts into a full colour flashback to the bustling 1870s.
   • So many times on this trip with Asia, I have had this sensation of the past melting into the present.
   • The music melts into silence as the batteries of the radio fade.
   • And where do these waterways - some of them melting into each other - begin and end?
   • He uses a whole Reblochon cheese from the Savoie region of France which melts into the mixture of potatoes, onions and bacon.
   • Melt it and mix it with double cream and you have chocolate heaven: pop one of Michel Cluizel's oval buttons in your mouth and it slowly melts into a luscious chocolate swirl.
   • That flat stomach melts into soft library flab as library time takes precedence over exercise.
   • I am so tired that my body feels like it's melting into the floor.
   • At the nearest turning he waited till the silhouette of the three persons melted into the distance and disappeared.
   • Beef stew uses cuts like chuck, blade and shin, which have fat that melts into the sauce, making it velvety and delicious.
   • Beyond the city, urban sprawl quickly melts into full-on farmland, your jarred spine straightens out again and the whole week's expedition seems to stretch ahead to the horizon beneath immense white clouds.
   • When heated, mascarpone melts into a creamy sauce.
   • I love the feeling of slowness and how a day can start off with a chilling coldness that melts into a strange half-warmness later on.
   • The stage is painted with blue sky melting into the ocean, in front of which typical Irish music and American country music will be played.
   • Blectum's plunderphonic audio collage soon melts into digital abstraction, and eventually breaks the sound down into a few clicks and cuts.
   • Meanwhile, cream the yeast in a bowl with the water and milk, then stir in the butter and keep stirring until it has melted into the mixture.
   • Working with light hues, the artist generates the impression of his motifs melting into a suffusion of light and shade on the computer generated prints.
   • The interview with de Vries is different, changing form slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, like an ice cube slowly melting into water.
   • Spaced-out, synthy and slick, each song melts into the next.
   • Set in a secluded meadow in Yosemite Valley against granite cliffs, the 99-room hotel of stone, glass and concrete melts into its remarkable setting.

1An act or period of melting.

1. 1.1mass noun Metal or other material in a melted condition.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • This is too long to preserve small bodies of melt in the crust, and suggests that the scenario is appropriate to neither the Waipiata nor the western Hungarian field.
   • The container then sinks through the melt under the influence of gravity and eventually comes to rest when the heat or the waste itself is dissipated.
   • Interestingly, high-temperature melting experiments have shown similar peritectic assemblages coexisting with granitic melt.
   • The blue colour of smalt derives from the addition of cobalt oxide to a potash glass melt during manufacture.
   • You know, I'm listening to you and Orelon talk about the melt on the trees and the ice still on the trees.
   • The research compares with estimates which put the rate of rise lower and which blame most of that on thermal expansion rather than ice melt.
   • Mullite crystals grow out of a complex silicate melt - porcelain kilns never attain pure silica's melting point.
   • Field evidence suggests that many dykes were responsible for transporting melt, and this would substantially reduce the inflation time.
   • Should any such pathways exist they would be filled by recrystallized silicate melt where they impinged on the zone of partial melting.
   • He argued that all other granites represent hybrid magma formed by reaction of basaltic melt with crustal metamorphic rocks.
   • This suggests that melting of basement rocks at a deeper crustal level, with some input of juvenile melt from the mantle, may have generated the dyke.
   • Still, it is scientifically preferable to collect samples of the melt that formed during the creation of a specific lunar impact basin.
   • These melts have low silica contents and are dominated by calcium and magnesium carbonate.
   • Another effect will be to lower the peraluminosity and decrease the lime content of the melt.
   • These melts will only crystallize within this period if they segregate from their protoliths.
2. 1.2 A quantity of metal melted at one operation.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The amount of melt is critical in maximizing the thickness of the recrystallized zone around the container and to the sealing of any fissures in the zone of metamorphism.
   • Radioactive dating of the melts and the hydrothermal deposits indicates the Sudbury impact occurred about 1.85 billion years ago.
   • Thus we need to estimate stretching factors in some other way to predict the amount of melt that may be generated.
   • Dingwell et al. have shown at low dissolved water contents in rhyolitic melts, large changes in melt viscosity can occur for very small changes of water content.
   • This would present an option of either increased amounts of melt giving a thicker sarcophagus or lower temperatures to enhance container survival.
   • We need to know how much of this melt is refreezing back on, because the refreezing in fact slightly stabilises the ice shelf.
   • The term fluxing also includes the treatment of nonferrous melts by inert or reactive gases to remove solid or gaseous impurities.
   • However, the relative effects of fluctuating dynamic support and episodic addition of melt cannot be clearly distinguished in the present dataset.
   • Liquid nitriding compositions that do not contain a substantial amount of cyanate in the original melt must be aged before use in production.
3. 1.3North American with modifier A sandwich, hamburger, or other dish containing or topped with melted cheese.
   a tuna melt

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Quite literally, they were covered in foil much like a tuna melt floundering in a microwave.
   • My favorite cheat meal is a patty melt, but the restaurant versions have way too much fat.
   • I picked up a pressed penny for my sister, grabbed a fine lunch of lobster bisque and a crab melt, then went for Round Two, this time at Mohegan Sun.
   • As the prices were so reasonable, daughter decided to skip the two-course special and chose the chicken and cranberry melt - light and tasty.
   • Also included are keema and peas with naan bread, vine tomato and mozzarella melt, tuna salad and chicken curry.
   • He ordered himself a tuna melt, left his door open for other patients to stroll in and was back in uniform the next day.
   • I think about that as I chomp on my half of the melt, but Smith is still too busy talking to eat.
   • Patty, the vegetarian, shared a tuna melt with Molly and later they felt ill.
   • He's grabbed some hamburgers, coke, and for you Amber, I told him to get you water and a cheese melt.
   • Hot Italian snacks, otherwise known as panini, came with chargrilled vegetables and mozzarella cheese or tuna melt.
   • Other items I spotted were toasted focaccia, chicken satay and roasted vegetables with cheese melt each for £2.99.
   • At present the most popular baguette is the chicken and cheese melt with lettuce and mayonnaise called Lisa after the customer who first ordered the filling.
   • We decided on the gyros and tuna melt.
   • I was was eating a patty melt and fries on my sofa watching Letterman, so clearly I was home around midnight.
   • Ann spotted one of her favourites and asked for the tuna melt.
   • There is also a range of light meals (such as tuna melt or steak 'n' cheese sandwiches), plus desserts.
   • And so, for no good reason, on my first visit I ordered, of all things, a tuna melt, a meatball sub, and a roast beef sandwich.