temper

English

/ˈtɛmpə/, /ˈtɛmpɚ/

noun
Definitions
  • A tendency to be in a certain type of mood; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting.
  • State of mind; mood.
  • A tendency to become angry.
  • Anger; a fit of anger.
  • Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure.
  • (obsolete) Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.
  • Middle state or course; mean; medium.
  • The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities.
  • The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.
  • The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling.
  • (sugar manufacture) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English temperen inherited from Old English ġetemprian (moderate, temper, govern, cure) derived from Latin temperō (I regulate, I divide proportion duly, intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate, I moderate).

Origin

Latin

temperō

Gloss

I regulate, I divide proportion duly, intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate, I moderate

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms