Dis*tem"per (?), v. t. [imp. &
p. p. Distempered (?); p. pr. & vb.
n. Distempering.] [OF. destemprer,
destremper, to distemper, F. détremper 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.]
Dis*tem"per, n. [See Distemper,
v. t., and cf. Destemprer.]
1. An undue or unnatural temper, or
disproportionate mixture of parts. Bacon.
&fist; This meaning and most of the following are to be referred
to the Galenical doctrine of the four "humors" in man. See
Humor. According to the old physicians, these humors, when
unduly tempered, produce a disordered state of body and mind.
2. Severity of climate; extreme weather,
whether hot or cold. [Obs.]
Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a
distemper uninhabitable.
Sir W.
Raleigh.
3. A morbid state of the animal system;
indisposition; malady; disorder; -- at present chiefly applied to
diseases of brutes; as, a distemper in dogs; the horse
distemper; the horn distemper in cattle.
They heighten distempers to
diseases.
Suckling.
4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue
predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad
temper; ill humor. [Obs.]
Little faults proceeding on
distemper.
Shak.
Some frenzy distemper had got into his
head.
Bunyan.
5. Political disorder; tumult.
Waller.
6. (Paint.) (a) A
preparation of opaque or body colors, in which the pigments are
tempered or diluted with weak glue or size (cf. Tempera)
instead of oil, usually for scene painting, or for walls and ceilings
of rooms. (b) A painting done with this
preparation.
Syn. -- Disease; disorder; sickness; illness; malady;
indisposition; ailment. See Disease.