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to yellow

to yellow

10 4.4
To become the color of a lemon or old paper
  • verb
  • /ˈjɛloʊ/
translation icon : amarillearse
  • They yellowed with every lie she told him.
  • yellowed with age
  • yellowed paper
  • yellowed newspaper

Examples

  • However, most law firms still have huge collections of paper that sit yellowing in boxes.

    Academic text (2003)
  • After years in storage, the once-white paper had started to yellow from chemical changes.

  • The foliage starts to yellow and die back a bit.

  • Anything that looked dated or had yellowed pages was immediately culled from the collection.

    Academic text (2013)
  • While I was busy at the stove, he studied the slightly yellowed photographs on the shelf.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • My mother taped them on the refrigerator door, and they yellowed in the sun.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Inside the shack where Jim Josh lived, there were yellowed calendars on the wall.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • As ever, the pub smelled of cigarettes, the walls yellowed by years of smoke, familiar and comforting.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Inside the bus, she opened her purse and handed me a wrinkled, yellowed newspaper clipping.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • But Paula painted the woodwork white and replaced the yellowing curtains with bamboo blinds.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

yellowed
vsto yellow
7 3.4

Having a yellow color because of age or light

refers to the process of changing into that pale warm color

Idioms

To start a journey into the unknown that brings adventure and personal change

Compounds

12 1.0

A very strong yellow color that is easy to see

yellow pages
  • Archaic
10 1.8

A book of local businesses and services printed on yellow paper

yellow fever
  • Specialized
9 3.7

A serious disease spread by mosquitoes that makes the skin turn yellow

6 1.8

A traffic signal that warns drivers to slow down and prepare to stop

yellow-bellied
  • Offensive
5 7.9

Being too afraid to do things that need courage

4 1.0

A light yellow colour that looks soft and not bright

4 2.1

A taxi painted yellow seen in cities like New York

4 7.2

A path toward a dream that has problems and surprises

3 2.5

A bright yellow like the outside of a lemon

yellow journalism
  • Literature
2 5.2

Reporting that exaggerates and uses shocking stories to attract readers while ignoring the truth

A bright yellow color like a canary's feathers

1 3.4

The second-longest river in northern China that flows east to the Yellow Sea and has yellow mud

1 2.7

A long yellow vegetable with soft skin that you cook and eat

1 3.6

A small aggressive wasp with yellow and black stripes that often builds nests in the ground

cadmium yellow
  • Specialized
1 8.3

A bright yellow pigment made from cadmium used in painting that is poisonous

A yellow color with a little green

1 5.1

A freshwater fish with a yellow body and dark stripes, caught for food and sport

yellow ocher
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A natural yellow pigment from earth used for painting

Having yellow spots on its surface

chrome yellow
  • Archaic
1 8.5

A bright yellow paint made from lead and used for painting

code yellow
  • Jargon
1 6.8

An alert warning people about a specific emergency, for example bad weather or a missing person

A pale yellow color like cream

A warm yellow color like gold

yellow bile
  • Archaic
1 9.9

An old medical idea that a fluid from the liver makes people angry

1 4.8

A tall plant with yellow iris flowers that grows in wet places

yellow journalist
  • Literature
1 7.7

A reporter who writes exaggerated or shocking stories to attract readers

1 3.5

A pine tree that has hard yellowish wood people use for building and furniture

A small woodpecker with a pale yellow belly that drills rows of holes in trees to eat sap and insects

1 2.0

A brownish yellow color like dry autumn leaves

With yellow lines on the surface, often on animals or objects

A color between yellow and orange, like a sunset

1 2.5

A pale white color with a little yellow

A yellow color with a little brown that looks warm and dull

A color between brown and yellow

cadmium yellow pale
  • Specialized
9.7

A pale yellow paint color used by artists

8.6

A sticky plant with hanging yellow flowers that grows in dry places in the southwestern United States

A bright light yellow color like a canary's feathers

A yellow color with a touch of red

A strong, intense yellow like a ripe pumpkin

A small wild flower that has soft hairy leaves and yellow petals with purple veins

alizarin yellow
  • Specialized
9.9

A yellow dye used in paints, fabrics, and chemistry

9.9

A North American wild flower with greenish-yellow pouch-shaped flowers and purple marks

A clover with yellow flowers that grows in Ireland and is often seen as the real shamrock

A large European plant with yellow flower clusters used in medicine

onion yellow dwarf
  • Specialized
7.4

A virus that makes onion plants small and their leaves turn yellow

6.2

A virus that makes onion plants grow poorly and their leaves turn yellow

A bright yellow color with a small touch of orange

potato yellow dwarf
  • Specialized
5.6

A disease of potato plants that makes leaves yellow and plants small

6.1

A germ that makes potato plants small and their leaves turn yellow

5.1

A bright pale yellow like a lemon or an egg yolk

tall yellow-eye
  • Australian
9.9

A tall Australian plant with yellow flowers that comes back each year

A large pine tree with short needles in groups of two or three and reddish brown bark when fully grown

A large pine tree from the southeastern United States with long needles and rough reddish bark used for timber

A tall pine tree from western North America with dark green needles

Wood from the western yellow pine tree used for building and furniture

A common wild flower with nodding yellow or red petals spotted with brown

A plant that lives many years with yellow flowers that smell nice and leafy stems

A plant that lives for many years with bright yellow flowers

A plant that grows in bogs and has spikes of yellow-orange flowers

yellow bass
  • Specialized
7.7

A small freshwater fish with yellowish colour that looks like a striped bass

yellow adder's tongue
  • Specialized
9.9

A small North American spring flower with one yellow spotted blossom

yellow ageratum
  • Specialized
8.8

A small shrub with yellow daisy-like flowers that grows in dry Mediterranean areas

A long thin vegetable with yellow pods that you eat

A common plant with small yellow flowers that lives many years

A common weed grass with yellow, rough, stiff seed heads

A common grass that grows as a weed in fields with bristly seed heads

9.9

A low-growing plant with yellow flowers that have red dots and smell faintly of pine

9.9

A sticky desert plant with hanging yellow flowers

A small fruit from buckthorn plants used to make yellow dye

6.1

A North American tree with thin shiny yellow or gray bark and strong wood

yellow bone marrow
  • Specialized
6.1

Tissue inside the hollow part of long bones in adults that stores fat

A small European bird whose male has bright yellow feathers

A common plant that lives for many years with small yellow flowers and sticky stems

How Discolored

to yellow
10 4.4
to discolor
  • US
11 4.1
to fade
531 1.2

Surface Forms

yellow infinitive
yellowed past
yellowed past participle
yellowing present participle
yellows third person singular

Etymology

Yellow as a verb comes from the colour word and simply means to turn the colour of lemons or old paper, which is why we say paper or teeth can 'yellow' with age.