Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (v. t.) To make soft or more soft.

2. (v. t.) To render less hard; -- said of matter.

3. (v. t.) To mollify; to make less fierce or intractable.

4. (v. t.) To palliate; to represent as less enormous; as, to soften a fault.

5. (v. t.) To compose; to mitigate; to assuage.

6. (v. t.) To make less harsh, less rude, less offensive, or less violent, or to render of an opposite quality.

7. (v. t.) To make less glaring; to tone down; as, to soften the coloring of a picture.

8. (v. t.) To make tender; to make effeminate; to enervate; as, troops softened by luxury.

9. (v. t.) To make less harsh or grating, or of a quality the opposite; as, to soften the voice.

10. (v. i.) To become soft or softened, or less rude, harsh, severe, or obdurate.