n. [ OF. attemprement. ] A tempering, or mixing in due proportion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. atemprance. ] Temperance; attemperament. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. attemperatus, p. p. of attemperare. See Attemper. ] Tempered; proportioned; properly adapted. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hope must be . . . attemperate to the promise. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To attemper. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of attempering or regulating. [ Archaic ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Contemper. ] To temper; to moderate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Moisten and contemperate the air. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of tempering or moderating. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Proportionate mixture or combination. “Contemperation of light and shade.” Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition of being tempered; proportionate mixture; temperature. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The different contemperature of the elements. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Physics), A certain temperature, different for different gases, but always the same for each gas, regarded as the temperature above which no amount of pressure can produce condensation to a liquid; the temperature above which a gas cannot be liquified. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Distemperature. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. distemperatus, p. p. ] 1. Immoderate. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Diseased; disordered. [ Obs. ] Wodroephe. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Unduly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Bad temperature; intemperateness; excess of heat or cold, or of other qualities; as, the distemperature of the air. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disorder; confusion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Disorder of body; slight illness; distemper. [ 1913 Webster ]

A huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures and foes to life. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Perturbation of mind; mental uneasiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sprinkled a little patience on the heat of his distemperature. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bad state; as, the intemperament of an ulcerated part. [ R. ] Harvey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. intempérance, L. intemperantia. See In- not, and Temperance. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of becoming, or state of being, intemperate; excess in any kind of action or indulgence; any immoderate indulgence of the appetites or passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

God is in every creature; be cruel toward none, neither abuse any by intemperance. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some, as thou sawest, by violent stroke shall die,
By fire, flood, famine, by intemperance more
In meats and drinks. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: Habitual or excessive indulgence in alcoholic liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Intemperance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. intemperans, -antis. See In- not, and Temperant. ] Intemperate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Such as be intemperant, that is, followers of their naughty appetites and lusts. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. intemperatus. See In- not, and Temperate. ] 1. Indulging any appetite or passion to excess; immoderate in enjoyment or exertion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically, addicted to an excessive or habitual use of alcoholic liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Excessive; ungovernable; inordinate; violent; immoderate; as, intemperate language, zeal, etc.; intemperate weather. [ 1913 Webster ]

Most do taste through fond intemperate thirst. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Use not thy mouth to intemperate swearing. Ecclus. xxiii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To disorder. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an intemperate manner; immoderately; excessively; without restraint. [ 1913 Webster ]

The people . . . who behaved very unwisely and intemperately on that occasion. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The state of being intemperate; excessive indulgence of any appetite or passion; as, intemperateness in eating or drinking. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Severity of weather; inclemency. Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

By unseasonable weather, by intemperateness of the air or meteors. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. intemperature. ] Intemperateness. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. obtemperare, obtemperatum to obey. ] To obey. [ Obs. ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ It. ] (Paint.) A mode or process of painting; distemper. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The term is applied especially to early Italian painting, common vehicles of which were yolk of egg, yolk and white of egg mixed together, the white juice of the fig tree, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being tempered. [ 1913 Webster ]

The fusible, hard, and temperable texture of metals. Emerson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. temperamentum a mixing in due proportion, proper measure, temperament: cf. F. tempérament. See Temper, v. t. ] 1. Internal constitution; state with respect to the relative proportion of different qualities, or constituent parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

The common law . . . has reduced the kingdom to its just state and temperament. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Due mixture of qualities; a condition brought about by mutual compromises or concessions. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

However, I forejudge not any probable expedient, any temperament that can be found in things of this nature, so disputable on their side. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of tempering or modifying; adjustment, as of clashing rules, interests, passions, or the like; also, the means by which such adjustment is effected. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wholesome temperaments of the rashness of popular assemblies. Sir J. Mackintosh. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Condition with regard to heat or cold; temperature. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Bodies are denominated “hot” and “cold” in proportion to the present temperament of that part of our body to which they are applied. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mus.) A system of compromises in the tuning of organs, pianofortes, and the like, whereby the tones generated with the vibrations of a ground tone are mutually modified and in part canceled, until their number reduced to the actual practicable scale of twelve tones to the octave. This scale, although in so far artificial, is yet closely suggestive of its origin in nature, and this system of tuning, although not mathematically true, yet satisfies the ear, while it has the convenience that the same twelve fixed tones answer for every key or scale, C♯ becoming identical with D♭, and so on. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Physiol.) The peculiar physical and mental character of an individual, in olden times erroneously supposed to be due to individual variation in the relations and proportions of the constituent parts of the body, especially of the fluids, as the bile, blood, lymph, etc. Hence the phrases, bilious or choleric temperament, sanguine temperament, etc., implying a predominance of one of these fluids and a corresponding influence on the temperament. [ 1913 Webster ]

Equal temperament (Mus.), that in which the variations from mathematically true pitch are distributed among all the keys alike. --
Unequal temperament (Mus.), that in which the variations are thrown into the keys least used. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to temperament; constitutional. [ R. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. temperantia: cf. F. tempérance. See Temper, v. t. ] 1. Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence; moderation; as, temperance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or mirth; specifically, moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to using intoxicating liquors. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Moderation of passion; patience; calmness; sedateness. [ R. ] “A gentleman of all temperance.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He calmed his wrath with goodly temperance. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. State with regard to heat or cold; temperature. [ Obs. ] “Tender and delicate temperance.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Temperance society, an association formed for the purpose of diminishing or stopping the use of alcoholic liquors as a beverage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Temperance. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. temperatus, p. p. of temperare. See Temper, v. t. ] 1. Moderate; not excessive; as, temperate heat; a temperate climate. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not marked with passion; not violent; cool; calm; as, temperate language. [ 1913 Webster ]

She is not hot, but temperate as the morn. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

That sober freedom out of which there springs
Our loyal passion for our temperate kings. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Moderate in the indulgence of the natural appetites or passions; as, temperate in eating and drinking. [ 1913 Webster ]

Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy. Franklin. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Proceeding from temperance. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Temperate zone (Geog.), that part of the earth which lies between either tropic and the corresponding polar circle; -- so called because the heat is less than in the torrid zone, and the cold less than in the frigid zones. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Abstemious; sober; calm; cool; sedate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To render temperate; to moderate; to soften; to temper. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It inflames temperance, and temperates wrath. Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a temperate manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being temperate; moderateness; temperance. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. L. temperativus soothing. ] Having power to temper. [ R. ] T. Granger. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. température, L. temperatura due measure, proportion, temper, temperament. ] 1. Constitution; state; degree of any quality. [ 1913 Webster ]

The best composition and temperature is, to have openness in fame and opinion, secrecy in habit, dissimulation in seasonable use, and a power to feign, if there be no remedy. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Memory depends upon the consistence and the temperature of the brain. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Freedom from passion; moderation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

In that proud port, which her so goodly graceth,
Most goodly temperature you may descry. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Physics) Condition with respect to heat or cold, especially as indicated by the sensation produced, or by the thermometer or pyrometer; degree of heat or cold; as, the temperature of the air; high temperature; low temperature; temperature of freezing or of boiling. The temperature of a liquid or a solid body as measured by a thermometer is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the consituent atoms or molecules of the body. For other states of matter such as plasma, electromagnetic radiation, or subatomic particles, an analogous measure of the average kinetic energy may be expressed as a temperature, although it could never be measured by a traditional thermometer, let alone by sensing with the skin. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

4. Mixture; compound. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Made a temperature of brass and iron together. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Physiol. & Med.) The degree of heat of the body of a living being, esp. of the human body; also (Colloq.), loosely, the excess of this over the normal (of the human body 98°-99.5° F., in the mouth of an adult about 98.4°). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Absolute temperature. (Physics) See under Absolute. --
Animal temperature (Physiol.), the nearly constant temperature maintained in the bodies of warm-blooded (homoiothermal) animals during life. The ultimate source of the heat is to be found in the potential energy of the food and the oxygen which is absorbed from the air during respiration. See Homoiothermal. --
Temperature sense (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving cold and warmth, and so of perceiving differences of temperature in external objects. H. N. Martin. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

a. Intemperate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Intemperately. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. An association of women formed in the United States in 1874, for the advancement of temperance by organizing preventive, educational, evangelistic, social, and legal work. It is also known as the Women's Christian Temperance Union and by its acronym WCTU or W.C.T.U.. It was one of the political forces leading to passage of the constitutional amendment, later repealed, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]