Hypertext Webster Gateway: "distempered"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Distemper \Dis*tem"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Distempered}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Distempering}.] [OF. destemprer, destremper, to
distemper, F. d['e]tremper to soak, soften, slake (lime);
pref. des- (L. dis-) + OF. temprer, tremper, F. tremper, L.
temperare to mingle in due proportion. See {Temper}, and cf.
{Destemprer}.]
1. To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to
change the due proportions of. [Obs.]

When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered.
--Chaucer.

2. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or
spiritual; to disorder; to disease. --Shak.

The imagination, when completely distempered, is the
most incurable of all disordered faculties.
--Buckminster.

3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle;
to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant.
``Distempered spirits.'' --Coleridge.

4. To intoxicate. [R.]

The courtiers reeling, And the duke himself, I dare
not say distempered, But kind, and in his tottering
chair carousing. --Massinger.

5. (Paint.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to
distemper colors with size. [R.]


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