temper
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: architecture
cooking
entertainment
food
lifestyle
music
Etymology: From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“(transitive) to divide or proportion duly, to moderate, to regulate; (intransitive) to be moderate, temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal.
Inflected forms:
form: tempers
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: tempre
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: tempers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: tempering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: tempered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: tempered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: tempre
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A general tendency or orientation towards a certain type of mood, a volatile state; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: to have a good, bad, or calm temper
A noble temper dost thou show in this;
And it was peculiar in their Temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by Rapine or Stealth at a greater diſtance, than much better Food provided for them at home.
[…] when she smiled, the Sweetness of her Temper diffused that Glory over her Countenance, which no Regularity of Features can give.
I am of a cautious temper, and unwilling to risk my happiness in a hurry.
[…] Amy smiled without bitterness, for she possessed a happy temper and hopeful spirit.
[…] it appeared as if to be alone in the great house of his fathers suited his temper.
gloss: State of mind; mood.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Remember with what mild / And gracious temper he both heard and judg’d / Without wrauth or reviling;
[…] I must testify from my Experience, that a Temper of Peace, Thankfulness, Love and Affection, is much more the proper Frame for Prayer than that of Terror and Discomposure;
[H]er temper was fluctuating; joy for a few instants shone in her eyes, but it continually gave place to distraction and reverie.
‘You should be careful not to irritate her, James. Her temper has been soured, remember, and ought not to be tried.’
She bowed to him, to put him in a good temper.
gloss: A tendency to become angry.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: to have a hasty temper
He has quite a temper when dealing with salespeople.
“I guess you’ve got a spice of temper,” commented Mr. Harrison, surveying the flushed cheeks and indignant eyes opposite him.
‘What a temper you’ve got, Wormold.’
‘I’m sorry. Drink takes me that way.’
His criticism of Inés makes him bristle. Nonetheless, he holds his temper in check.
gloss: Anger; a fit of anger.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: an outburst of temper
When I heard about it I got myself into a terrible temper.
Hortense remained for several days in a condition of sullen anger—she was a cloud lit up by occasional unaccountable flashes of temper.
Jill suddenly flew into a temper (which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry).
[…] she banged the door as she left as though in temper and walked to her car.
gloss: Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper
Reſtore your ſelues, vnto your temper, Fathers; / And, vvithout perturbation, heare me ſpeake: […]
Teach me like thee, in various Nature wiſe, / To fall with Dignity, with Temper riſe; [...]
“And I think, madam,” said the Lord Keeper, losing his accustomed temper and patience, “that if you had nothing better to tell us, you had better have kept this family secret to yourself also.”
[H]er temper was rarely ruffled, and, if we might judge by her appearance, she was always happy.
Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings.
gloss: Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: […] it is hard to say, whether [Christ’s] pain was more shamefull, or his shame more painfull unto him: the exquisiteness of his bodily temper, increasing the exquisiteness of his torment, and the ingenuity of his Soul, adding to his sensibleness of the indignities and affronts offered until him.
gloss: Middle state or course; mean; medium.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The perfect lawgiver is a just temper between the mere man of theory, who can see nothing but general principles, and the mere man of business, who can see nothing but particular circumstances.
gloss: The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: the temper of mortar
gloss: The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: the temper of iron or steel
Between two blades, which bears the better temper: […] / I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgement; / But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, / Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.
gloss: Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.
pos: noun
tags: countable
historical
uncountable
examples: 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, pp. xciv-xcv,
All cane juice is liable to rapid fermentation. As soon, therefore, as the clarifier is filled, the fire is lighted, and the temper (white lime of Bristol) is stirred into it. The alkali of the lime having neutralized its superabundant acid, a part of it becomes the basis of the sugar.
gloss: A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; tempering.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To moderate or control.
pos: verb
examples: Temper your language around children.
It is all very well tempering enthusiasm for the Report in most of its particulars, as the thinking press has since the debate, [...].
Rail Minister Lord Hendy was quizzed by the same MPs at an earlier hearing. He maintained that the Bill gave Mayors "much enhanced power" and preserved the existing processes by which rail services can be devolved. "The intention, more widely, is to work collaboratively with all devolved leaders to meet local needs," he said. "It has to be tempered by the reality, which is that the railway network is not generally consistent with mayoral boundaries. […]".
gloss: To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal.
pos: verb
examples: Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature.
The temper'd metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
gloss: To adjust the temperature of an ingredient (e.g. eggs or chocolate) gradually so that it remains smooth and pleasing.
pos: verb
gloss: To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine.
pos: verb
gloss: To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency.
pos: verb
gloss: To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use.
pos: verb
gloss: To govern; to manage.
pos: verb
tags: Latinism
obsolete
examples: With which the damned ghosts he governeth, / And furies rules, and Tartare tempereth.
gloss: To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
examples: You fools! I and my fellows / Are ministers of fate: the elements / Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well / Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs / Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish / One dowle that's in my plume; […]
gloss: To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
examples: Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system.
1682 (first performance), Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd
Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee / To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
But thy fire / Shall be more tempered, and thy hope far higher.
She [the Goddess of Justice] threw darkness and clouds about her, that tempered the light into a thousand beautiful shades and colours.
gloss: To fit together; to adjust; to accommodate.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
examples: Thy sustenance […] serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's liking.
Related words: contemper
distemper
temperament
temperance
temperate
Derived words: bad temper
bad-tempered
even-tempered
good-tempered
hot-tempered
ill-tempered
keep one's temper
lose one's temper
out of temper
quick-tempered
short temper
short-tempered
sweet-tempered
temper foam
temperish
temper of the times
temper screw
tempersome
temper tantrum
temper temper
temperless
austemper
martemper
mistemper
nontempering
retemper
temperability
temperable
temperedness
temperer
tempering
untemper
untempered
well-tempered
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: модулирам
roman: moduliram
lang: Finnish
word: temperoida