a. [f. TEMPER v. and sb. + -ED.]
† 1. Brought to or having a proper or desired temper, quality, or consistence (usually by mixture of elements or mingling of qualities); hence, of an intermediate or moderate quality free from either extreme; temperate. Obs. except as below.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xliv. (Lucy), 238. Þat [pyk & brynstan] grewit hyre nomare Na It a tempryt bath ware.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 222. The fryste tokyn of good complexcion Is temperid flesshe betwene nesshe and harde, and namely be-twen lene and fatte.
a. 1450. Knt. de la Tour (1906), 9. It is good to serue God … and lyue tempered and moderat lyff.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619), 422. Leaving in the midst a court, open to the tempered aire.
b. with adverbial qualification.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 284. To worke in us the impression of an excellently tempered complexion.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 101/2. Wine … kept in a dry cool place, always equally tempered.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 692. In the heaven above an excellently tempered climate.
c. That has been brought to the required degree of hardness and elasticity, as steel; also said vaguely or poetically of other metals.
1655. Mrq. Worcester, Cont. Inv., § 85. A little Ball made in the shape of Plum or Pear, being dexterously conveyed or forced into a bodies mouth, shall presently shoot forth such and so many Bolts of each side and at both ends, as without the owners Key can neither be opened or filed off, being made of tempered Steel, and as effectually locked as an Iron Chest.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 699. The temper’d metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
1727. Gay, Fables, xii. 6. Some … head the darts with tempered gold.
1789. R. Hole, Arthur, V.
| No temper’d mail resists Fiacha’s might; | |
| Thy warriors distant tremble at the sight. |
184[?]. 7 Champ. Christendom, 2. She then conducted him into a fine armoury, where she buckled a beautiful corslet on his breast, placed a helmet, with a lofty plume of waving feathers, upon his head, and gave him a fine tempered sword.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 271/1. The word ‘tempered’ (as applied to steel) should properly apply to all degrees of hardness denotable by colour in the colour test.
d. Mixed or compounded in due proportion; worked up to a suitable consistency.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 259. Delve of convenient Depth your thrashing Floor; With temper’d Clay then fill and face it o’er.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 255. Cover the Head of the Stock with temper’d Clay, or with soft Wax.
1778. Bp. Lowth, Transl. Isaiah, Notes, 158. Bricks, made with tempered clay and chopped straw.
e. Mus. That has been tuned or adjusted in pitch according to some TEMPERAMENT (sense 10).
1727–41. [see TEMPER v. 15 b].
1783. Cavallo, in Phil. Trans., LXXVIII. 250. One may easily perceive, how small is the difference between the perfect fifths of the latter, and the tempered ones of the former.
1829–32. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), II. 139. Nobody denies that the different keys on tempered instruments have different qualities.
1875. Ellis, trans. Helmtholtz’ Sensat. Tone, III. xvi. 510. We cannot … fail to recognise the influence of tempered intonation upon the style of composition.
1879. C. H. H. Parry, in Grove, Dict. Mus., II. 11/2. The larger intervals contained in the tempered octave are all to a certain extent out of tune.
2. Constituted or endowed with a specified temper or disposition (in various senses of temper).
a. Qualified by an adv.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 266. For his corage is tempred so, That thogh he mihte himself relieve, Yit wolde he noght an other grieve.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 119. He that is vertuous in the vertu of that force, is ay temperit that he excedis nocht.
1529. More, Dyaloge, I. Wks. 162/2. It is so meruaylously tempered that a mouse may wade therin, and an Olyphaunt be drowned therin.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 143. Perseus (one better tempered, Then to behold a Virgine slaughtered, Without assayd reuenge).
a. 1628. F. Grevil, Sidney (1907), 13. A quiet and equally tempered people.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 119. Children, sweetly tempered like their mother.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VI. xlv. 15. Indications that its form of government was not unhappily tempered.
b. Qualified by an adj., so as to become a parasynthetic deriv. of TEMPER sb.: Having a temper of such a kind (mild-tempered = of mild temper).
(The 18th-c. quots. show the gradual change from a.)
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., x. 178. Heavy unequal tempered Stuff.
1747. trans. Astruc’s Fevers, 169. A cold mild-tempered easy patient.
1747. Richardson, Clarissa, I. ii. 11. She aimed to be worse-tempered than ordinary.
1768. [see GOOD-TEMPERED].
1788. Mr. Hughes, Henry & Isabella, I. 80. Lamented that so mild a tempered, pretty kind of woman, should be subject to his tyranny.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Marchmont, III. 146. So unhappy a tempered woman.
1835. H. G. Keene, trans. Anvārī Suheli, I. 140. By chance, a bear, foul-tempered, ugly in shape, disagreeable in appearance, and impure in nature, had also, on account of his solitary state, turned his face from the top of the hill to the bottom.
1868. Farrar, Seekers, III. i. (1875), 267. Controlled, modest, faithful, and even-tempered.
1901. Wide World Mag., VIII. 149/2. Hard at bargaining … and cross-tempered withal.
3. Modified by the admixture or influence of some other element; seasoned; moderated, mitigated, allayed, toned-down; limited.
1654. Jer. Taylor, Real Pres., 298. In a moderated proportion … wine is mingled with water, as the Spirit with a man. And he receivs in the Feast … tempered wine unto faith.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Mus., v. 85. Sophocles appeared next; of a more sedate and tempered Majesty.
1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. VI. 135. No man can be a friend to a tempered monarchy who bears a decided hatred to monarchy itself.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xliv. They proceeded to a third room with a more tempered step.
1828. D’Israeli, Chas. I., I. vi. 157. At this crisis, the tempered wisdom of the Queen saved the nation.
a. 1892. Barcroft Boake, A Vision out West, in Where the Dead Men Lie, etc. (1897), 25.
| His flashing pinions closely clipt, pent in a cunning-fashioned cage, | |
| Of all his flaming glory stript—these men direct his tempered rage. |
1893. Westm. Gaz., 23 March, 2/3. He … listened to his tempered speech—it was a much milder note than on Tuesday.
