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more about distempered
distempered |
1 definition found 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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