Animal temperature

Temperature \Tem"per*a*ture\, n. [F. temp['e]rature, L.
   temperatura due measure, proportion, temper, temperament.]
   1. Constitution; state; degree of any quality.
      [1913 Webster]

            The best composition and temperature is, to have
            openness in fame and opinion, secrecy in habit,
            dissimulation in seasonable use, and a power to
            feign, if there be no remedy.         --Bacon.
      [1913 Webster]

            Memory depends upon the consistence and the
            temperature of the brain.             --I. Watts.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Freedom from passion; moderation. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            In that proud port, which her so goodly graceth,
            Most goodly temperature you may descry. --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Physics) Condition with respect to heat or cold,
      especially as indicated by the sensation produced, or by
      the thermometer or pyrometer; degree of heat or cold; as,
      the temperature of the air; high temperature; low
      temperature; temperature of freezing or of boiling.

   Note: The temperature of a liquid or a solid body as measured
         by a thermometer is a measure of the average kinetic
         energy of the consituent atoms or molecules of the
         body. For other states of matter such as plasma,
         electromagnetic radiation, or subatomic particles, an
         analogous measure of the average kinetic energy may be
         expressed as a temperature, although it could never be
         measured by a traditional thermometer, let alone by
         sensing with the skin.
         [1913 Webster +PJC]

   4. Mixture; compound. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Made a temperature of brass and iron together.
                                                  --Holland.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Physiol. & Med.) The degree of heat of the body of a
      living being, esp. of the human body; also (Colloq.),
      loosely, the excess of this over the normal (of the human
      body 98[deg]-99.5[deg] F., in the mouth of an adult about
      98.4[deg]).
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

   {Absolute temperature}. (Physics) See under {Absolute}.

   {Animal temperature} (Physiol.), the nearly constant
      temperature maintained in the bodies of warm-blooded
      (homoiothermal) animals during life. The ultimate source
      of the heat is to be found in the potential energy of the
      food and the oxygen which is absorbed from the air during
      respiration. See {Homoiothermal}.

   {Temperature sense} (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving
      cold and warmth, and so of perceiving differences of
      temperature in external objects. --H. N. Martin.
      [1913 Webster]
      [1913 Webster]