King James Bible Dictionary

See Anger; Malice; Self-control
Anger; Malice; Self-control

TEM'PER, verb transitive [Latin tempero, to mix or moderate]

1. To mix so that one part qualifies the other; to bring to a moderate state; as, to temper justice with mercy.

2. To compound; to form by mixture; to qualify, as by an ingredient; or in general, to mix, unite or combine two or more things so as to reduce the excess of the qualities of either, and bring the whole to the desired consistence or state.

Thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy. Exodus 30:35.

3. To unite in due proportion; to render symmetrical; to adjust, as parts to each other.

God hath tempered the body together. 1 Corinthians 12:24.

4. To accommodate; to modify.

Thy sustenance serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's liking.

5. To soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm; to reduce any violence or excess.

Solon--labored to temper the warlike courages of the Athenians with sweet delights of learning.

Woman! nature made thee

To temper man; we had been brutes without you.

6. To form to a proper degree of hardness; as, to temper iron or steel.

The temper'd metals clash, and yield a silver sound.

7. To govern; a Latinism. [Not in use.]

8. In music, to modify or amend a false or imperfect concord by transferring to it a part of the beauty of a perfect one, that is, by dividing the tones.

TEM'PER, noun Due mixture of different qualities; or the state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; as the temper of mortar.

1. Constitution of body. [In this sense we more generally use temperament.]

2. Disposition of mind; the constitution of the mind, particularly with regard to the passions and affections; as a calm temper; a hasty temper; a fretful temper This is applicable to beasts as well as to man.

Remember with what mild

And gracious temper he both heard and judg'd.

3. Calmness of mind; moderation.

Restore yourselves unto your tempers, fathers.

To fall with dignity, with temper rise.

4. Heat of mind or passion; irritation. The boy showed a great deal of temper when I reproved him.

So we say, a man of violent temper when we speak of his irritability. [This use of the word is common, though a deviation from its original and genuine meaning.]

5. The state of a metal, particularly as to its hardness; as the temper of iron or steel.

6. Middle course; mean or medium.

7. In sugar works, white lime or other substance stirred into a clarifier filled with cane-juice, to neutralize the super abundant acid.

TEM'PERAMENT, noun [Latin temperamentum.]

1. Constitution; state with respect to the predominance of any quality; as the temperament of the body.

Bodies are denominated hot and cold, in proportion to the present temperament of that part of our body to which they are applied.

2. Medium; due mixture of different qualities.

The common law--has reduced the kingdom to its just state and temperament

3. In music, temperament is an operation which, by means of a slight alteration in the intervals, causes the difference between two contiguous sounds to disappear, and makes each of them appear identical with the other.

Temperament is the accommodation or adjustment of the imperfect sounds, by transferring a part of their defects to the more perfect ones, to remedy in part the false intervals of instruments of fixed sounds, as the organ, harpsichord, forte piano, etc.

The harshness of a given concord increases with the temperament

TEMPERAMENT'AL, adjective Constitutional. [Not much used.]

General references
Esther 1:7-8; Proverbs 23:1-3; Proverbs 25:16; Daniel 1:8; Daniel 1:12-16; Romans 13:14; 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Philippians 4:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8; 1 Timothy 3:2-3; Titus 1:7-8; 1 Timothy 3:8; Titus 2:2-3; Titus 2:12; 2 Peter 1:5-6
Abstinence, Total; Drunkenness; Wine

TEM'PERANCE, noun [Latin temperantia, from tempero.]

1. Moderation; particularly, habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence; as temperance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or mirth. temperance in eating and drinking is opposed to gluttony and drunkenness, and in other indulgences, to excess.

2. Patience; calmness; sedateness; moderation of passion.

He calm'd his wrath with goodly temperance [Unusual.]

TEM'PERATE, adjective [Latin temperatus.] Moderate; not excessive; as temperate heat; a temperate climate; temperate air.

1. Moderate in the indulgence of the appetites and passions; as temperate in eating and drinking; temperate in pleasures; temperate in speech.

Be sober and temperate and you will be healthy.

2. Cool; calm; not marked with passion; not violent; as a temperate discourse or address; temperate language.

3. Proceeding from temperance; as temperate sleep.

4. Free from ardent passion.

She is not hot, but temperate as the morn.

Temperate zone, the space on the earth between the tropics and the polar circles, where the heat is less than in the tropics, and the cold less than in the polar circles.

TEM'PERATELY, adverb Moderately; without excess or extravagance.

1. Calmly; without violence of passion; as, to reprove one temperately

2. With moderate force.

Winds that temperately blow.

TEM'PERATENESS, noun Moderation; freedom from excess; as the temperateness of the weather or of a climate.

1. Calmness; coolness of mind.

TEM'PERATIVE, adjective Having the power or quality of tempering.

TEM'PERATURE, noun [Latin temperature ]

1. In physics, the state of a body with regard to heat or cold, as indicated by the thermometer; or the degree of free caloric which a body possesses, when compared with other bodies. When a body applied to another, either excites the sensation of heat, or expands that body, we say it is of a higher temperature; that is, it possesses more free caloric. When it excites the sensation of cold, or contracts another body, it is said to be of a lower temperature Thus we speak of the temperature of air, of water, of a climate, etc.; two countries of the same temperature

2. Constitution; state; degree of any quality.

Memory depends upon the consistence and temperature of the brain.

3. Moderation; freedom from immoderate passions.

In that proud port, which her so goodly graceth,

Most goodly temperature you may descry.

[Not in use.]

TEM'PERED, participle passive Duly mixed or modified; reduced to a proper state; softened; allayed; hardened.

1. Adjusted by musical temperament.

2. adjective Disposed; as a well tempered good tempered or bad tempered man.

TEM'PERING, participle present tense Mixing and qualifying; qualifying by mixture; softening; mollifying; reducing to a state of moderation; hardening.