Forms: 4–6 tempre, 5 tempere, -yr, -our, -ure, tymper, 6– temper. [f. TEMPER v. Cf. rare OF. tempre proportion, etc. (12th c. in Godef., Compl.), later and mod.F. trempe (15th c.) tempering, temper of steel, physical constitution of man.]
I. † 1. The due or proportionate mixture or combination of elements or qualities; the condition or state resulting from such combination; proper or fit condition; in temper, out of temper, in, out of proper condition, etc. Now rare or Obs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 75. Þere is helþe, for þe aier is in tempre, noþer to hote noþer to colde.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 246. Als longe as the natural hette duryth in ryght tempure by euenesse of the foure humores.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke ix. 86 b. The delectable swetenesse of the glorie should be brought to a tempre with the mencion of death.
1573. Treas. Hid. Secrets (1633), xviii. Keepe your water in a temper; and, when it is very hot, let it out, and put it in cold water.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 138. For the curing and keeping in temper of the body.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 191. It shall be wisedome for vs … to sing of mercy and iudgment too; both together will make an excellent temper.
1622. Rel. Eng. Plant. in Plymouth N. Eng., in Arber, Pilgr. Fathers (1897), 448. To make our pieces and furniture ready, which by the moisture and rain were out of temper.
1651. T. Stanley, Poems, 106. As soon as the cup was brought tempered with water, they call on Jupiter … the author of temper and commixtion.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Impr. (1746), 389. Health itself is but a kind of Temper gotten and preserved by a convenient Mixture of Contrarieties.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. 82. To keep their limbs pliable and in a right temper.
1743. Lond. & Country Brew., II. (ed. 2), 120. The London Brewer … lets in a parcel of cold Water directly and thereby brings all his Liquor into a Temper at once.
[1879. Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, 117. What is temper? Its primary meaning, ‘the proportion and mode in which qualities are mingled,’ is much neglected in popular speech.]
2. Proportionate arrangement of parts; regulation, adjustment; hence, mean or medium, a middle course; a compromise; a settlement. arch.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 4. Their most speciall temper is at the bolster, where as the plough beame lyeth. [Cf. TEMPER v. 17.]
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxvi. § 5. A moderate, indifferent temper, betweene fulnesse of bread, and emptinesse.
1647. Jer. Taylor, Lib. Proph., Ep. Ded. 24. Therefore they made Decrees of Toleration, and appointed tempers and expedients.
1692. Burnet, Past. Care, viii. 95. So strongly does the World love Extreams, and avoid a Temper.
1757. Burke, Abridgm. Eng. Hist., III. iv. The king … compiled a new body of laws, in order to find a temper between both.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 260. He would probably have preferred a temper between the two rival systems, a hierarchy in which the chief spiritual functionaries should have been something more than moderators and something less than prelates.
3. Mental balance or composure, esp. under provocation of any kind; moderation in or command over the emotions, esp. anger; calmness, equanimity: now usually in the phrases to keep or lose (one’s) temper, to be out of temper.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 185. Neuer could the Strumpet … Once stir my temper.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, IV. ii. Restore your selves unto your temper, fathers, And, without perturbation, hear me speak.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. civ. 9. Paraphr. 511. It observes … a temper in its madness.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, V. iv. Let your wild fury have a vent; and when you have temper, tell me.
1697. Collier, Immor. Stage, iii. (1698), 120. Creon keeps himself within Temper, and gives no ill Language.
1703. Rowe, Ulyss., Ded. The Temper which you have restor’d to our Councils.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 140, ¶ 11. I keep my Temper, and win their Money.
1743. J. Morris, Serm., vii. 191. The good man was out of temper.
1782. V. Knox, Ess. (1819), II. lxxxvi. 148. Public affairs are seldom treated with temper either in writing or conversation.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, V. xxxvii. 20. Teleutias entirely lost his temper.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxxii. It would put me out of temper, which is a state of mind I can’t endure.
1871. Smiles, Charac., i. (1876), 9. A weakness … was his want of temper; his genius was sacrificed to his irritability.
1878. S. Walpole, Hist. Eng., II. 458. Sir Joseph Yorke told him that he would lose his place if he did not keep his temper.
II. † 4. The constitution, character, or quality of a substance or body (orig. supposed to depend upon the ‘temper’ or combination of the elements); = TEMPERAMENT 3. Obs.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurgie, 332. Coold mater … ne schal not be putt awei wiþ repercussiuis, but wiþ medicyns þat ben hoot and drie in tempere.
1483. Cath. Angl., 379/2. A Tempyr … temperacio rerum.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. iii. 209. In the highest mountains and inaccessible rockes of a rough temper.
1625. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. iii. (1635), 45. [He] found the causes of most magneticall motions hid in the magneticall temper and constitution of the Earth.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 67. Examine the Temper of your Stuff, by easy Trials, how the Plane will work upon it.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 60. In sowing of Land great regard ought to be had to the Weather, and the Temper of the Land you design to sow.
1759. J. Mills, Duhamel’s Husb., I. ix. (1762), 52. I come now to your lands of a light temper.
† b. Of things immaterial: Character, quality.
1598. B. Young, trans. Montemayor’s Diana, 109. His strength and courage was not of such a temper, that mortall wounds could daunt his minde.
1602. Life T. Cromwell, II. i. 86. Now, sir, your heart is fram’d of milder temper.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., I. iii. (1636), 125. The Georgians have … a peculiar language of a middle temper, which well agreeth with the position of their country, betweene the Tartarians and the Armenians.
1651. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng. II. lxii. 194. Treason was anciently used only as a crime of breach of trust or fealty…; now it grows into a sadder temper, and is made all one with that of Laesa Majestas.
5. The particular degree of hardness and elasticity or resiliency imparted to steel by tempering: see TEMPER v. 14.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 189. O wareide suerd, of tempyr neuir trew.
1590. Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, 4. Rapier blades … made of a verie hard temper to fight in priuat fraies.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. iv. 13. Between two blades, which beares the better temper.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 340. Milanese Cutlers … are accounted very excellent workmen for making of kniues, targets, and swordes of a singular temper.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 61. The blew Colour gives the Temper to Springs in general.
1881. Metal World, 8 Oct., 338. The temper of steel is due to the chemical union of the iron with the carbon.
fig. 1601. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum. (Qo.), II. ii. 73. Not caring how the temper of your spirits [Fol. metal of your minds] Is eaten with the rust of idlenesse.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 664. Harden’d his heart’s temper in the forge Of lust, and on the anvil of despair.
1866. J. Martineau, Ess., I. 41. Intellectual implements of more ethereal temper.
† 6. The condition of the atmosphere with regard to heat and cold, dryness and humidity; the prevailing condition of the weather at a place; CLIMATE sb. 3, TEMPERAMENT 4. Obs.
1483. Cath. Angl., 379/2. A Tempyr… temperies Aeris est.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. clxvi. [clxvii.] 500. The wether was fayre and clere, and the ayre in good temper.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, I. ix. 33. It is a land of an excellent temper, being in the midst of two extremes.
1622. Rel. Eng. Plant. in Plymouth N. Eng., in Arber, Pilgr. Fathers (1897), 490. For the temper of the air here, it agreeth well with that in England.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 565. With the changeful Temper of the Skies, As Rains condense, and Sunshine rarifies.
1705. Addison, Italy, 208. The Temper of their Climate … relaxes the Fibers of their bodies.
† 7. The relative condition of a body in respect of warmth or coldness; = TEMPERATURE 7. Obs.
1562. Turner, Baths, 16. Let therefore your both meat and drinke be in such temper, that they be not cold but warme.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 326. This will be performed partly by the Temper of the Fire.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes, 27. The other foure months it is not so hot, but is neer the temper of the aire in England.
1677. Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 109. The Cloth is always kept in a constant heat and temper.
1693. E. Halley, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 655. The Thermometers … in use are of Two sorts; the one shewing the differing Temper of Heat and Cold by the Expansion of Spirit of Wine, the other by the Air.
1733. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Tan, The Bark will begin to heat, and when it is found of a due Temper, the Plants may be removed into it.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 75. Sufficient heat will pass along the wire to lower the temper of the hole.
† 8. Bodily habit, constitution, or condition. Obs. Sometimes attributed to the various proportions in which the four humours are combined; sometimes to the combination of physical qualities: see TEMPERAMENT 3, 6.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., II. i. A creature of a most perfect and divine temper: one, in whom the humours and elements are peaceably met … he is neither too … melancholy, too … phlegmatic [etc.].
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 272. The Temper of the whole body is to be esteemed according to the Temper of the principall parts, especially of the heart and the Liuer.
1634. W. Wood, New Eng. Prosp., I. ii. Agreeing well with the temper of our English bodlies.
1650. [see EXQUISITENESS d].
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., II. x. § 7 (1712), 71. The Hare, whose temper and frame of body are plainly fitted on purpose for her Condition.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., Introd. As for their [serpents’] temper, some are cold, and others hot.
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 300. All the Climates above 45 towards the Æquator have exceeding Pulses, and Choleric thin Tempers and Habits.
9. Mental constitution; habitual disposition; = TEMPERAMENT 7.
1595. Shaks., John, V. ii. 40. A noble temper dost thou show in this. Ibid. (1611), Wint. T., IV. iv. 478. You know my Fathers temper: at this time He will allow no speech.
1669. Stillingfl., Serm. Whitsunday, ¶ 14. Did the being Christians alter their natural temper?
1720. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), VII. 111. A Lady of a sweet Temper, strict Virtue.
1754. Edwards, Freed. Will, I. ii. 10. The particular Temper which the Mind has by Nature, or that has been introduced and established by Education, Example, Custom or some other Means.
1777. H. Blair, Serm. (1780), II. 70. Temper is the disposition which remains after these emotions are past; and which forms the habitual propensity of the soul.
1842. Borrow, Bible in Spain, xlviii. He … had been educated for the Church, which, not suiting his temper, he had abandoned.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 2. 466. The temper of the Puritan was eminently a temper of law.
10. Actual state or attitude of the mind or feelings; frame of mind; inclination, humor.
a. 1628. Preston, New Covt. (1634), 118. If thy heart continue in that temper, it is impossible.
1680. Burnet, Rochester (1692), 62. Thereby to nourish a devout temper in us.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. 320. He brought me an Account of the Temper he found them in.
1777. Burke, Lett. Sheriffs Bristol, Wks. III. 162. A conciliatory temper must precede and prepare every plan of reconciliation.
1838. Lytton, Leila, IV. vii. The excitement, the wrath of the troops, produced the temper most fit for action.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xv. III. 501. The Commons were in no temper to listen to such excuses.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 317. I would recommend you … not to encourage yourself in this polemical and controversial temper.
b. In GOOD-TEMPER, ILL-TEMPER, bad temper (the latter leading to sense 11).
1768. [implied in GOOD-TEMPERED].
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 69. A feature of that good temper which appears to me so visible every where in France.
1793. Burke, Cond. Minority, Wks. VII. 267. He would not be able to get the better of the ill temper, and the ill doctrines, he has been the means of exciting.
1828. Webster, s.v., Disposition of mind: the constitution of the mind, particularly with regard to the passions and affections; as, a calm temper; a hasty temper; a fretful temper. This is applicable to beasts as well as to man.
a. 1832. Bentham, Deontology (1834), I. 26, note. The tranquillity and good temper of a disputant.
1855. Bad temper [see BAD a. 6].
1884. J. Hall, Chr. Home, 159. Servants … sometimes suffer from the ill-temper of their employers.
11. = Ill-temper: Heat of mind or passion, showing itself by outbursts of irritation or anger upon slight provocation; explosive ill-humor.
1828. Webster, Temper … 5. Heat of mind or passion; irritation. The boy showed a great deal of temper when I reproved him. So we say, a man of violent temper, when we speak of his irritability. (This use of the word is common, though a deviation from its original and genuine meaning.)
1831. J. W. Croker, in Boswell’s Johnson, I. 248, note. Johnson, when the first ebullition of temper had subsided, felt that he had been unreasonably violent.
1836. Smart, Temper.… from the original sense, calmness, moderation; by a special application of the latter derivative senses, heat, irritation.
1880. Church, Cathedral & Univ. Serm. (1892), 197. What we all understand when we speak of a man ‘showing temper.’
1900. Elinor Glyn, Visits Elizabeth (1906), 21. I can’t tell you, Mamma, what a temper I was in.
III. 12. Concrete senses, in technical use.
† a. Applied to mortar or plaster. Obs. rare–1.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 18. An olde wall whose temper was made of Lime and Sand.
b. Sugar-making. A solution containing lime or some other alkaline substance serving to neutralize the acid in the raw cane-juice and clarify it.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes, 90. A liquor made of water and Withs which they call Temper.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 59/1. When the clarifier is filled, a fire is lighted, and a quantity of Bristol quickline in powder … called temper, is poured into the vessel.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1202. If an excess of temper be used, the gluten is taken up again by the strong affinity which … exist[s] between sugar and lime.
c. An alloy of tin and copper.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Pewterer’s Temper, an alloy of 2 parts tin and 1 copper.
1885. Encycl. Brit., XVIII. 725/1. The finest pewter (sometimes called ‘tin and temper’) is simply tin hardened by the addition of a trifle of copper.
IV. 13. attrib. and Comb., as temper-flaw; temper-spoiling, -trying adjs.
1788. Cowper, Poet’s N.-Y. Gift, ii. To wish thee fairer is no need,… Or more ingenious, or more freed From temper-flaws unsightly.
1893. Outing (U.S.), XXII. 121/2. Fly-fishing is pretty, but it is a futile and temper-spoiling art on a narrow, crooked, bush-grown brook.
1895. Kipling in Daily Chron., 3 July, 3/7. The mass of profitless, temper-wearing detail that attaches itself to any extended market-work.
14. Special Comb. (perh. from stem of TEMPER v.): temper-pot: see quots.; temper-screw, a set-screw for adjustment; esp. in boring, a screw-connection for automatically adjusting the drill as the boring proceeds. See also TEMPER-PIN.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 67. When … the ladle becomes chilled, it is dipped into a small vessel containing lead of a higher temperature than that which is being worked, and known by the name of a *temper-pot.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 361/2. The temper-pots hold about a ton of metal each.
a. 1864. Gesner, Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865), 23. The *Temper Screw is attached to a rope which connects with the end of the walking-beam, and serves to regulate the descent of the drill, without the inconvenience of lengthening the rope at short intervals.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Temper-screw,… one which brings its point against a bearing or an object.
1883. Century Mag., July, 330/1. Then there is the ‘temper-screw’ which lowers the drilling apparatus inch by inch as it goes down.
