temperance
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈtɛmpəɹəns/
Forms: form: temperances
form: temperaunce
Etymology: From Anglo-Norman temperance, from Latin temperantia (“moderation, sobriety, discretion, self-control”), from temperans, present participle of temperare (“to moderate”). See temper. English equivalent temper + -ance.
Senses: examples: text: temperance in eating and drinking
text: temperance in the indulgence of joy
text: Who did begin their Feaſtes with Prayers; continue them with Temperance, and Sobrietie; eating no more then would ſuffice their hunger; drinking no more then would quench and ſatisfie their thirſt […]
ref: 1628, William Prynne, Healthes Sicknesse. Or, a compendious and briefe Discourse; prouing the Drinking, and Pledging of Healthes, to be Sinfull […] , London: Augustine Matthews, page 22:
text: On these occasions I have noticed such a dreamy, vacant expression in his eyes, that I might have suspected him of being addicted to the use of some narcotic, had not the temperance and cleanliness of his whole life forbidden such a notion.
ref: 1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), chapter II (The Science of Deduction), page 8:
text: But there was no one to shake Nero into temperance. He had affairs, drank tremendously, raised taxes in the provinces to pay for his indulgences, and started once again to hold the infamous treason trials as Caligula had done.
ref: 2007, Susan Wise Bauer, “The Problem of Succession”, in The History of the Ancient World, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, page 729:
glosses: Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence.
examples: text: Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible, and therefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind some hundreds of years thereafter.
ref: 1842 February 22, Abraham Lincoln, “Address Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society”, in Arthur Brooks Lapsley, editor, The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln:
text: So now the frauds reckoned they was out of danger, and they begun to work the villages again. ¶ First they done a lecture on temperance; but they didn't make enough for them both to get drunk on.
ref: 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXI, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 314:
text: Public-houses, besides their usual exhortation against temperance reform, invited men to “Join our Christmas goose club”—one bottle of gin, etc., or two, according to subscription.
ref: 1908–1910, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Christmas Shopping”, in Howards End, New York, N.Y.; London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons […], published 1910, →OCLC, page 97:
text: Evangelists organized an association for each issue—temperance, education, Sabbath observance, antidueling, and later antislavery; collectively these groups formed a national web of benevolent and moral reform societies.
ref: 1986, Mary Beth Norton; David M. Katzman; Paul D. Escott; Howard P. Chudacoff; Thomas G. Paterson; William M. Tuttle, Jr., A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 326:
glosses: Moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to using intoxicating liquors.
examples: text: […] in the verie Torrent, Tempeſt, and (as I may ſay) the Whirle-winde of Paſſion, you muſt acquire and beget a Temperance that may giue it Smoothneſſe.
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 266, column 2:
text: Enough, you stand a traitor by my hearth, / And yet I draw not! Sir, I cannot pledge / This temperance long; the path of safety’s there.
ref: 1849, [John] Westland Marston, “Strathmore”, in The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Westland Marston, volume I, London: Chatto & Windus, published 1876, act I, scene ii, page 10:
text: What was the government doing keeping schools open when our closest neighbours – Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – had already closed theirs? […] Those who were being charitable asked for temperance. Our government surely had a credible plan? Somewhere. Right?
ref: 2020 June 11, Lola Okolosie, “This bungled schools coronavirus policy hurts children, parents and teachers”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2023:
synonyms: patience
calmness
sedateness
glosses: Moderation of passion; calmness.
examples: text: It [the climate] must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.
ref: 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], line 41:
glosses: State with regard to heat or cold; temperature.
Coordinate terms: sense: virtue
word: chastity
sense: virtue
word: charity
sense: virtue
word: diligence
sense: virtue
word: patience
sense: virtue
word: kindness
sense: virtue
word: humility
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
alt: ATS
word: American Temperance Society
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
alt: LTL
word: Loyal Temperance Legion
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance association
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance bar
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance beverage
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance chartism
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance chartist
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: Temperance Colonization Society
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance colony
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance education
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance group
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance hotel
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance journal
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance lobby
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance magazine
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance meeting
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance movement
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance movement zealot
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance norm
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance organisation
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance organization
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance paper
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance play
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance pledge
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance reading room
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance society
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
word: temperance writer
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
alt: TTS
word: Toronto Temperance Society
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
alt: WCTU
word: Woman's Christian Temperance Union
sense: terms derived from the noun temperance
alt: YTC
word: Youth Temperance Council
Related terms: word: temper
word: temperament
word: temperamental
word: temperature
sense: associated terms
word: anti-prohibitionist
sense: associated terms
word: antiprohibitionist
sense: associated terms
word: Anti-Saloon League
sense: associated terms
word: blind pig
sense: associated terms
word: blind tiger
sense: associated terms
word: bootlegger
sense: associated terms
word: bootlegging
sense: associated terms
word: dry faction
sense: associated terms
word: dry
sense: associated terms
word: the dries
sense: associated terms
word: National Prohibition Act
sense: associated terms
word: prohibition
sense: associated terms
word: Prohibition
sense: associated terms
word: prohibitionary
sense: associated terms
word: prohibitionist
sense: associated terms
word: Prohibition Party
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word: pro-prohibitionist
sense: associated terms
word: proprohibitionist
sense: associated terms
word: speakeasy
sense: associated terms
word: speakeasy club
sense: associated terms
word: wet faction
sense: associated terms
word: wet
sense: associated terms
word: the wets
sense: associated terms
word: White Ribbon Recruit
sense: associated terms
word: White Ribbon Recruits