Melting means softening on the tongue almost at once. Melting chocolate, a melting texture, melt in the mouth.
Good chocolate melts at just below body temperature, which is why it goes soft in the hand and dissolves on the tongue — cocoa butter is unusual in having so sharp a melting point. Melt-in-the-mouth is the fixed compliment for pastry and for slow-cooked meat. Figuratively, a melting look is one that softens the person receiving it. Note melting point; and a melting pot.
1adjectivemeltingSoftening on the tongue almost at once.
“The chocolate cake had a soft, melting centre.”
2adjectivefeelingSoftening feeling, of a look.
“She gave him a melting look, and he forgave her at once.”
melting is a quality of softening.
Practised in Texture & Touch