distemper

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 ]