distempered
simple past tense and past participle of distemper
distempered (comparative more distempered, superlative most distempered)
(archaic) Affected with or suffering from distemper.
Synonym: diseased
Source: Wiktionary
Dis*tem"per, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distempered; p. pr. & vb. n. Distempering.] Etym: [OF. destemprer, destremper, to distemper, F. détremper to soak, soften, slake (lime); pref. des- (L. dis-) + OF. temprer, tremper, F. tremper, L. temperare to mingle in due proportion. See Temper, and cf. Destemprer.]
1. To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of. [Obs.] When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered. Chaucer.
2. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease. Shak. The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties. Buckminster.
3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant. "Distempered spirits." Coleridge.
4. To intoxicate. [R.] The courtiers reeling, And the duke himself, I dare not say distempered, But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing. Massinger.
5. (Paint.)
Definition: To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to distemper colors with size. [R.]
Dis*tem"per, n. Etym: [See Distemper, v. t., and cf. Destemprer.]
1. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts. Bacon.
Note: This meaning and most of the following are to be referred to the Galenical doctrine of the four "humors" in man. See Humor. According to the old physicians, these humors, when unduly tempered, produce a disordered state of body and mind.
2. Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold. [Obs.] Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a distemper uninhabitable. Sir W. Raleigh.
3. A morbid state of the animal system; indisposition; malady; disorder; -- at present chiefly applied to diseases of brutes; as, a distemper in dogs; the horse distemper; the horn distemper in cattle. They heighten distempers to diseases. Suckling.
4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor. [Obs.] Little faults proceeding on distemper. Shak. Some frenzy distemper had got into his head. Bunyan.
5. Political disorder; tumult. Waller.
6. (Paint.) (a) A preparation of opaque or body colors, in which the pigments are tempered or diluted with weak glue or size (cf. Tempera) instead of oil, usually for scene painting, or for walls and ceilings of rooms. (b) A painting done with this preparation.
Syn.
– Disease; disorder; sickness; illness; malady; indisposition; ailment. See Disease.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
9 June 2025
(noun) one having both male and female sexual characteristics and organs; at birth an unambiguous assignment of male or female cannot be made
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
