Word of the Day

: December 31, 2010

meld

verb MELD

What It Means

: merge, blend

meld in Context

Simmer the sauce until the flavors have melded together.

"This work is described as a collaborative, interdisciplinary project melding the contemporary visions of a choreographer, a filmmaker, a visual artist, and a fashion designer." -- From a review by Jennifer Edwards on The Huffington Post (huffingtonpost.com), November 24, 2010

Did You Know?

As a verb meaning "to blend or merge," "meld" dates only to the 1930s. In its early days, the word attracted some unfavorable attention. Those who didn't like it tended to perceive it as a misuse of an older "meld" meaning "to declare or announce (a card or cards) for a score in a card game (as pinochle or gin rummy)." But the new "meld," a blend of "melt" and "weld," was an entirely new coinage suggesting a smooth and thorough blending of two or more things into a single, homogeneous whole. The word is no longer controversial.