to yellow
- verb
- /ˈjɛloʊ/
- 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
Having a yellow color because of age or light
Idioms
- Informal
To start a journey into the unknown that brings adventure and personal change
Compounds
- Specialized
A serious disease spread by mosquitoes that makes the skin turn yellow
- Literature
Reporting that exaggerates and uses shocking stories to attract readers while ignoring the truth
The second-longest river in northern China that flows east to the Yellow Sea and has yellow mud
A small aggressive wasp with yellow and black stripes that often builds nests in the ground
- Specialized
A bright yellow pigment made from cadmium used in painting that is poisonous
- US
A freshwater fish with a yellow body and dark stripes, caught for food and sport
- Jargon
An alert warning people about a specific emergency, for example bad weather or a missing person
- Literature
A reporter who writes exaggerated or shocking stories to attract readers
A small woodpecker with a pale yellow belly that drills rows of holes in trees to eat sap and insects
- Specialized
A sticky plant with hanging yellow flowers that grows in dry places in the southwestern United States
A small wild flower that has soft hairy leaves and yellow petals with purple veins
- Specialized
A North American wild flower with greenish-yellow pouch-shaped flowers and purple marks
- Irish
A clover with yellow flowers that grows in Ireland and is often seen as the real shamrock
- Specialized
A virus that makes onion plants small and their leaves turn yellow
- Specialized
A virus that makes onion plants grow poorly and their leaves turn yellow
- Specialized
A disease of potato plants that makes leaves yellow and plants small
- Specialized
A germ that makes potato plants small and their leaves turn yellow
- Australian
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 plant that lives many years with yellow flowers that smell nice and leafy stems
- Specialized
A small freshwater fish with yellowish colour that looks like a striped bass
- Specialized
A small North American spring flower with one yellow spotted blossom
- Specialized
A small shrub with yellow daisy-like flowers that grows in dry Mediterranean areas
- UK
A low-growing plant with yellow flowers that have red dots and smell faintly of pine
- Specialized
Tissue inside the hollow part of long bones in adults that stores fat
A common plant that lives for many years with small yellow flowers and sticky stems
How Discolored
Surface Forms
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.