temper

== English == === Alternative forms === tempre (obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“I divide or proportion duly, I moderate, I regulate; intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal. === Pronunciation === (UK) IPA(key): /ˈtɛmpə/ (US) IPA(key): /ˈtɛmpɚ/ Rhymes: -ɛmpə(ɹ) === Noun === temper (countable and uncountable, plural tempers) A general tendency or orientation towards a certain type of mood, a volatile state; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting. State of mind; mood. A tendency to become angry. Anger; a fit of anger. Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure. to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper (obsolete) Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. Middle state or course; mean; medium. The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities. The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment. The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling. (sugar manufacture, historical) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar. 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,[8] 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. (pottery, architecture) A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; tempering. ==== Synonyms ==== (tendency of mood): disposition, temperament ((fit of) anger): rage ==== Coordinate terms ==== (Heat treatment): quenching ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== contemper distemper temperament temperance temperate ==== Translations ==== === Verb === temper (third-person singular simple present tempers, present participle tempering, simple past and past participle tempered) To moderate or control. Synonym: season To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal. (cooking) To adjust the temperature of an ingredient (e.g. eggs or chocolate) gradually so that it remains smooth and pleasing. To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine. To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency. (music) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use. (obsolete, Latinism) To govern; to manage. (archaic) To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose. (archaic) 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. , Volume 2 1682 (first performance), Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee / To temper man: we had been brutes without you. (obsolete) To fit together; to adjust; to accommodate. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === “temper”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “temper”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. === Anagrams === premet, tempre