[f. TEMPER v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb TEMPER, in various senses; an instance of this.
1382. Wyclif, Prov. xii. 11. Who is sweete, liueth in tempringis [1388 temperaunces]. Ibid., Ezek. xiii. 14 [see TEMPERURE 1].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 488/2. Temperynge, or mesurynge of sundry thyngys to-gedyr.
1486. Nottingham Rec., III. 241. To a warkman for temperyng of morter.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 4. The temperynge [of the plough] to go brode and narowe is in the settyng of the culture.
1538. [see TEMPER v. 18].
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 565. What waxe so frozen but dissolues with tempering?
1600. Holland, Livy, XLI. xxv. 1113. Proxenus … dranke a cup of poison of his wives tempering, whereof he died.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 90. Concerning the tempering of the Air in our Houses.
1661. Boyle, Unsucceeding Exper., Wks. 1772, I. 341. The tempering of steel.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 42/1. The Workman’s … Manner of Building depends partly upon … his Stone, and partly upon the tempering of his Mortar.
1839. [see TEMPERER 1].
1848. R. I. Wilberforce, Doctr. Incarnation, xiv. (1852), 409. Through the happy tempering of His natural qualities.
1875. Ouseley, Harmony, v. 67. This interval … in tuning a keyed instrument, will require a much greater alteration, or tempering.
b. attrib. and Comb., as tempering-bar, -bath, -furnace, -machine, -screw, -wheel: see quots.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 138. The fusion is to be raised to the tempering height.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 668. The tempering screw … is … added to keep the waggon in its proper situation, in whatever way the spring of the weighing machine may be acted upon by the friction.
1864. Webster, Tempering color, the shade of color that indicates the degree of temper in tempering steel.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tempering-furnace,… one specially contrived for imparting an equal heat to the articles to be tempered. Ibid., Tempering-machine, one for handling heavy steel plates during the operations in tempering. Ibid., Tempering-wheel, a device for … tempering clay for making brick, etc.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tempering-oven, in glass-manuf., an annealing-oven used after the melting-oven.
