Temper

temper
    n 1: a sudden outburst of anger; "his temper sparked like damp
         firewood" [syn: {pique}, {temper}, {irritation}]
    2: a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of
       feeling; "whether he praised or cursed me depended on his
       temper at the time"; "he was in a bad humor" [syn: {temper},
       {mood}, {humor}, {humour}]
    3: a disposition to exhibit uncontrolled anger; "his temper was
       well known to all his employees" [syn: {temper},
       {biliousness}, {irritability}, {peevishness}, {pettishness},
       {snappishness}, {surliness}]
    4: the elasticity and hardness of a metal object; its ability to
       absorb considerable energy before cracking [syn: {temper},
       {toughness}]
    v 1: bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a
         process of gradually heating and cooling; "temper glass"
         [syn: {anneal}, {temper}, {normalize}]
    2: harden by reheating and cooling in oil; "temper steel" [syn:
       {temper}, {harden}]
    3: adjust the pitch (of pianos)
    4: make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding
       something else; moderate; "she tempered her criticism" [syn:
       {temper}, {season}, {mollify}]
    5: restrain [syn: {chasten}, {moderate}, {temper}]
    

Temper \Tem"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Tempered}; p. pr. & vb.
   n. {Tempering}.] [AS. temprian or OF. temper, F. temp['e]rer,
   and (in sense 3) temper, L. temperare, akin to tempus time.
   Cf. {Temporal}, {Distemper}, {Tamper}.]
   1. To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to
      modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by
      an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage;
      to soothe; to calm.
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            Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch
            indifference, that mercy itself could not have
            dictated a milder system.             --Bancroft.
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            Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee
            To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
                                                  --Otway.
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            But thy fire
            Shall be more tempered, and thy hope far higher.
                                                  --Byron.
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            She [the Goddess of Justice] threw darkness and
            clouds about her, that tempered the light into a
            thousand beautiful shades and colors. --Addison.
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   2. To fit together; to adjust; to accomodate.
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            Thy sustenance . . . serving to the appetite of the
            eater, tempered itself to every man's liking.
                                                  --Wisdom xvi.
                                                  21.
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   3. (Metal.) To bring to a proper degree of hardness; as, to
      temper iron or steel.
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            The tempered metals clash, and yield a silver sound.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. To govern; to manage. [A Latinism & Obs.]
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            With which the damned ghosts he governeth,
            And furies rules, and Tartare tempereth. --Spenser.
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   5. To moisten to a proper consistency and stir thoroughly, as
      clay for making brick, loam for molding, etc.
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   6. (Mus.) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual
      scale, or to that in actual use.
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   Syn: To soften; mollify; assuage; soothe; calm.
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Temper \Tem"per\, n.
   1. The state of any compound substance which results from the
      mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different
      qualities; just combination; as, the temper of mortar.
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   2. Constitution of body; temperament; in old writers, the
      mixture or relative proportion of the four humors, blood,
      choler, phlegm, and melancholy.
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            The exquisiteness of his [Christ's] bodily temper
            increased the exquisiteness of his torment.
                                                  --Fuller.
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   3. 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.
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            Remember with what mild
            And gracious temper he both heared and judged.
                                                  --Milton.
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            The consequents of a certain ethical temper. --J. H.
                                                  Newman.
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   4. Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure; as,
      to keep one's temper.
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            To fall with dignity, with temper rise. --Pope.
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            Restore yourselves to your tempers, fathers. --B.
                                                  Jonson.
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   5. Heat of mind or passion; irritation; proneness to anger;
      -- in a reproachful sense. [Colloq.]
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   6. The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to
      its hardness, produced by some process of heating or
      cooling; as, the temper of iron or steel.
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   7. Middle state or course; mean; medium. [R.]
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            The perfect lawgiver is a just temper between the
            mere man of theory, who can see nothing but general
            principles, and the mere man of business, who can
            see nothing but particular circumstances.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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   8. (Sugar Works) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed
      in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.
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   {Temper screw}, in deep well boring, an adjusting screw
      connecting the working beam with the rope carrying the
      tools, for lowering the tools as the drilling progresses.
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   Syn: Disposition; temperament; frame; humor; mood. See
        {Disposition}.
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Temper \Tem"per\, v. i.
   1. To accord; to agree; to act and think in conformity.
      [Obs.] --Shak.
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   2. To have or get a proper or desired state or quality; to
      grow soft and pliable.
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            I have him already tempering between my finger and
            my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. --Shak.
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313 Moby Thesaurus words for "temper":
      Irish, abate, adjust, adjust to, allay, alleviate, alter, anger,
      animus, anneal, appease, aptitude, assuage, atmosphere,
      attain majority, attemper, attribute, aura, bad temper, balance,
      bank the fire, be tough, beef up, bent, besprinkle, bias, bloom,
      blunt, body-build, box in, brace, brace up, brand, breathe, brew,
      buttress, calcify, callous, calmness, case harden, cast, character,
      characteristic, characteristics, chasten, chisel temper,
      churlishness, circumscribe, climate, color, come of age,
      come to maturity, complexion, composition, composure, condition,
      confirm, conniption, constituents, constitution, constrain,
      control, cool, coolness, cornify, crasis, cue, curb, cushion, damp,
      dampen, dander, de-emphasize, deaden, decoct, develop, dharma,
      diathesis, die temper, dilute, diminish, disposition, downplay,
      dredge, drift, dull, dye, ease, eccentricity, endure, entincture,
      equanimity, ethos, extenuate, fiber, fierce temper, fiery temper,
      firm, firmness, fit, flavor, fledge, flower, fortify, fossilize,
      frame, frame of mind, fury, genius, gird, grain, grow, grow up,
      habit, hang tough, harden, hardness, hardness scale, heart,
      heat treating, hedge, hedge about, hot blood, hot temper,
      hotheadedness, hue, huffishness, humor, humors, idiosyncrasy, ilk,
      ill humor, ill temper, imbrue, imbue, impregnate, inclination,
      indenter, individualism, individuality, indurate, infiltrate,
      infuse, instill, invigorate, irascibility, ire, irritability,
      irritable temper, keep within bounds, kidney, kind, lapidify, lay,
      leaning, leave the nest, leaven, lenify, lessen, lighten, limit,
      lithify, make, makeup, mature, mellow, mental set, mettle, mind,
      mind-set, mitigate, moderate, modify, modulate, mold, mollify,
      mood, morale, narrow, nature, nerve, note, obtund, orientation,
      ossify, outburst, outlook, pacify, paddy, palliate, passion,
      peculiarity, peevishness, penetrate, permeate, personality,
      pervade, petrify, petulance, physique, play down, posture,
      precipitation hardening, predilection, predisposition, preference,
      proclivity, prop, propensity, property, qualify, quality, rage,
      razor temper, reach manhood, reach twenty-one, reach voting age,
      reduce, reduce the temperature, refresh, regulate by, reinforce,
      reinvigorate, relax, restrain, restrengthen, restrict, ripen,
      sang-froid, saturate, saw file temper, season, self-control,
      self-possession, set, set conditions, set limits, set temper,
      settle down, shore up, short temper, slacken, slant, slow down,
      smother, sober, sober down, soften, solidity, somatotype, soothe,
      sort, soundness, spindle temper, spirit, spirits, spunkiness,
      stability, stamp, state, state of mind, staunchness, steel, steep,
      stiffen, stifle, stoutness, strain, streak, strengthen, stripe,
      sturdiness, style, subdue, suchness, suffuse, support, suppress,
      surliness, sustain, system, tame, tantrum, temper tantrum,
      temperament, tempering, tendency, tenor, timbre, tincture, tinge,
      toga virilis, tone, tone down, tool temper, toughen, transfuse,
      trend, tune down, turn, turn of mind, twist, type, undergird,
      underplay, vein, vitrify, volatility, warm temper, warp, wax, way,
      weaken