distemper
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distemper
- /dɪsˈtɛmpə(ɹ)/
Rhymes with -ɛmpə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare.
noun distempers
- A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
- A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease. […] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward.
- A glue-based paint.
- A painting produced with this kind of paint.
verb distempers · distempering · distempered · distemper
- To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
- To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease. Guildenstern. The King, sir— Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him? Guildenstern. Is in his retirement, marvellous distemper’d. Hamlet. With drink, sir? Guildenstern. No, my lord; rather with choler.
- To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant. 1799-1800, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (translator), The Piccolomini by Friedrich Schiller, Boston: Francis A. Niccolls & Co., 1902, p. 37, I have been long accustomed to defend you, To heal and pacify distempered spirits.
- To intoxicate. For the Courtiers reeling, And the Duke himselfe, (I dare not say distemperd, But kind, and in his tottering chaire carousing) They doe the countrie service.
- To paint using distemper. He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have f
- To mix (colours) in the way of distemper. to distemper colors with size
Translations
Talk about this word "distemper." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/distemper. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. distemper. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/distemper "distemper." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/distemper.Cite this
@misc{distemper_2026,
title = {distemper},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/distemper},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
