Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
DISTEMPERATURE
Etymology
Noun
distemperature (countable and uncountable, plural distemperatures)
(now rare) A state of adverse or unhealthy atmospheric conditions.
(now rare) Unhealthy imbalance of bodily humours; a disorder.
Standing waters, thick and ill-coloured, […] cause foul distemperatures in the body and mind of man […]
Source: Wiktionary
Dis*tem"per*a*ture, n.
1. Bad temperature; intemperateness; excess of heat or cold, or of other qualities; as, the distemperature of the air. [Obs.]
2. Disorder; confusion. Shak.
3. Disorder of body; slight illness; distemper. A huge infectious troop Of pale distemperatures and foes to life. Shak.
4. Perturbation of mind; mental uneasiness. Sprinkled a little patience on the heat of his distemperature. Sir W. Scott.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
3 April 2025
WHOLE
(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”
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