Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Distemper
Dis-tem′per
,Verb.
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
But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing.
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.]
1.
An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts.
Bacon.
☞ 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
. Shakespeare
Some frenzy
distemper
had got into his head. Bunyan.
5.
Political disorder; tumult.
Waller.
Syn. – Disease; disorder; sickness; illness; malady; indisposition; ailment. See
Disease
. Webster 1828 Edition
Distemper
DISTEMPER
,Noun.
1.
Literally, an undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts. Hence, 2.
Disease; malady; indisposition; any morbid state of an animal body, or of any part of it; a state in which the animal economy is deranged or imperfectly carried on. [See Disease.] It is used of the slighter disease, but not exclusively. In general, it is synonymous with disease, and is particularly applied to the diseases of brutes.3.
Want of due temperature, applied to climate; the literal sense of the word, but not now used.Countries under the tropic of a distemper uninhabitable.
4.
Bad constitution of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite.5.
Want of due balance of parts or opposite qualities and principles; as, the temper and distemper of an empire consist of contraries. [Not now used.]6.
Ill humor of mind; depravity of inclination. [Not used.]7.
Political disorder; tumult.8.
Uneasiness; ill humor or bad temper.There is a sickness, which puts some of us in distemper.
9.
In painting, the mixing of colors with something besides oil and water. When colors are mixed with size, whites of eggs, or other unctuous or glutinous matter, and not with oil, it is said to be done in distemper.DISTEMPER
,Verb.
T.
1.
To disease; to disorder; to derange the functions of the body or mind.2.
To disturb; to ruffle.3.
To deprive of temper or moderation.4.
To make disaffected, ill humored or malignant. This verb is seldom used, except in the participles.Definition 2024
distemper
distemper
English
Noun
distemper (plural distempers)
- (veterinary medicine, pathology) A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
- (archaic) A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.
- 1719- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- […] my spirits began to sink under the burden of a strong distemper, and nature was exhausted with the violence of the fever […]
- 1719- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
- A water-based paint.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
-
- A painting produced with this kind of paint.
Translations
paint
Verb
distemper (third-person singular simple present distempers, present participle distempering, simple past and past participle distempered)
- To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
- 1478 (earliest extant version), Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Parson's Prologue and Tale,
- This synne hath manye speces. […] The fourthe is whan, thurgh the grete habundaunce of his mete, the humours in his body been distempred.
- 1478 (earliest extant version), Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, The Parson's Prologue and Tale,
- To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III,
- Guildenstern: The King, sir—
- Hamlet: Ay, sir, what of him?
- Guildenstern: Is in his retirement, marvellous distemper'd.
- Hamlet. With drink, sir?
- Guildenstern: No, my lord; rather with choler.
- 1814, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, Sermons, Boston: John Eliot, Sermon XVI, p. 267,
- The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties.
- 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 3,
- To some extent the Nore Mutiny may be regarded as analogous to the distempering irruption of contagious fever in a frame constitutionally sound, and which anon throws it off.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act III,
- To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant.
- 1799-1800, Friedrich Schiller, The Piccolomini, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Boston: Francis A. Niccolls & Co., 1902, p. 37,
- I have been long accustomed to defend you, / To heal and pacify distempered spirits.
- 1799-1800, Friedrich Schiller, The Piccolomini, translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Boston: Francis A. Niccolls & Co., 1902, p. 37,
- To intoxicate.
- 1623, Philip Massinger, The Duke of Milan, Act I, Scene I,
- For the Courtiers reeling, / And the Duke himselfe, (I dare not say distemperd, / But kind, and in his tottering chaire carousing) / They doe the countrie service.
- 1623, Philip Massinger, The Duke of Milan, Act I, Scene I,
- To paint using distemper.
- 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Chapter XIX,
- We cleaned out the cellars, fixed the shelves, distempered the walls, polished the woodwork, whitewashed the ceiling, stained the floor;
- 1933, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, Chapter XIX,
- To mix (colours) in the way of distemper.
- to distemper colors with size
Conjugation
Conjugation of distemper
| infinitive | (to) distemper | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | |||
| 1st person singular | distemper | distempered | ||
| 2nd person singular | distemper, distemperest1 |
|||
| 3rd person singular | distempers, distempereth1 |
|||
| plural | distemper | |||
| subjunctive | distemper | |||
| imperative | distemper | — | ||
| participles | distempering | distempered | ||
| 1) Archaic or obsolete. | ||||