temper

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• tempre (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English temperen, from Old English *temprian, from Latin temperare (“to divide or proportion duly, mingle in due proportion, qualify, temper, regulate, rule, intransitive observe measure, be moderate or temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”); see temporal.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmpə(ɹ)

Noun

temper (plural tempers)

1. A tendency to be of a certain type of mood.

   To have a good temper ; a bad temper.

   He has quite a (bad) temper when dealing with salespeople.

2. State of mind.
   • 1719- Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     ...I must testify, from my experience, that a temper of peace, thankfulness, love, and affection, is much the more proper frame for prayer than that of terror and discomposure...

3. The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.

Derived terms

• lose one's temper
• short temper
• short-tempered

Synonyms

• (Heat treatment): drop forge

Translations

tendency to be of a certain type of mood

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 脾气 (cmn)

• Danish: temperament (da) n
• Finnish: luonne (fi), tuuli (fi), luonteenlaatu (fi)
• French: caractère (fr) m, tempérament (fr) m

• German: Gereiztheit (de) f, Laune (de) f
• Romanian: caracter (ro) n, fire (ro) f
• Spanish: temperamento (es) m
• Zulu: inhliziyo (zu) 9/10

state of mind

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心情 (cmn), 心境 (cmn)

• Danish: gemyt (da) n, natur (da) c, sind (da) n
• Dutch: karakter (nl) n, gemoed (nl) n

• Finnish: mielenlaatu (fi), mieliala (fi), mielentila (fi)
• French: humeur (fr) f, état d'esprit (fr) m
• Romanian: temperament (ro) n, stare (ro) f, dispoziție (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian: ћуд (sh) (ćud) f

heat treatment

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 回火 (cmn)

• Dutch: uitharden (nl)
• Finnish: päästäminen (fi)

• French: trempe (fr) f
• German: Anlassen (de) n, Ausheizen (de) n
• Romanian: revenire (ro) f
• Spanish: temple (es) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Portuguese: pavio-curto, tempero (Brazil)

Verb

temper (third-person singular simple present tempers, present participle tempering, simple past and past participle tempered)

1. To moderate or control.

   Temper your language around children.

2. To heat-treat a material, especially metal or chocolate.

   Next, temper Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature..

3. To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency
4. (archaic) To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 3

     You fools! I and my fellows

     Are ministers of fate: the elements

     Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well

     Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs

     Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish

     One dowle that's in my plume; [...]

Translations

to moderate or control

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 缓和 (cmn)

• Dutch: matigen (nl)

• Finnish: hillitä (fi), lieventää (fi)
• Romanian: tempera (ro), modera (ro), regula (ro)
• Spanish: templar (es)

to heat-treat

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 回火 (cmn), 淬硬 (cmn)

• Finnish: päästää (fi), lämpökäsitellä (fi)

• Romanian: reveni (ro), căli (ro)
• Serbo-Croatian: prekaliti (sh)
• Spanish: templar (es)

to mix

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 揉和 (cmn)

• Romanian: amesteca (ro)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Portuguese: moderar, temperar

External links

• temper in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• temper in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911