n. [ See Distemper, v. t., and cf. Destemprer. ] 1. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a distemper uninhabitable. Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

They heighten distempers to diseases. Suckling. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Little faults proceeding on distemper. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some frenzy distemper had got into his head. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Political disorder; tumult. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties. Buckminster. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant. “Distempered spirits.” Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To intoxicate. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The courtiers reeling,
And the duke himself, I dare not say distempered,
But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing. Massinger. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Paint.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to distemper colors with size. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Distemperature. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ LL. distemperatus, p. p. ] 1. Immoderate. [ Obs. ] Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Diseased; disordered. [ Obs. ] Wodroephe. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Unduly. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Bad temperature; intemperateness; excess of heat or cold, or of other qualities; as, the distemperature of the air. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disorder; confusion. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Disorder of body; slight illness; distemper. [ 1913 Webster ]

A huge infectious troop
Of pale distemperatures and foes to life. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Perturbation of mind; mental uneasiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sprinkled a little patience on the heat of his distemperature. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Distempered state; distemperature. [ Obs. ] Feltham. [ 1913 Webster ]