temper

Etymology

From Middle English temperen, tempren, from Old English ġetemprian, temprian, borrowed from Latin temperō (“I divide or proportion duly, I moderate, I regulate; intransitive senses I am moderate, I am temperate”), from tempus (“time, fit season”). Compare also French tempérer. Doublet of tamper. See temporal.

noun

1. A general tendency or orientation towards a certain type of mood, a volatile state; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting.
   to have a good, bad, or calm temper
2. State of mind; mood.
   She bowed to him, to put him in a good temper. 1950, Nevil Shute, chapter 3, in A Town Like Alice, London: Heinemann, published 1952, page 94
3. A tendency to become angry.
   to have a hasty temper
   He has quite a temper when dealing with salespeople.
   “I guess you’ve got a spice of temper,” commented Mr. Harrison, surveying the flushed cheeks and indignant eyes opposite him. 1909, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 3, in Anne of Avonlea
   ‘What a temper you’ve got, Wormold.’ ‘I’m sorry. Drink takes me that way.’ 1958, Graham Greene, chapter 5, in Our Man in Havana, Penguin, published 1969
   His criticism of Inés makes him bristle. Nonetheless, he holds his temper in check. 2013, J. M. Coetzee, chapter 28, in The Childhood of Jesus, London: Harvill Secker, page 251
4. Anger; a fit of anger.
   an outburst of temper
   Hortense remained for several days in a condition of sullen anger—she was a cloud lit up by occasional unaccountable flashes of temper. 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 28, in Bertram Cope’s Year
   Jill suddenly flew into a temper (which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry). 1953, C. S. Lewis, chapter 1, in The Silver Chair, London: Geoffrey Bles, published 1965
   […] she banged the door as she left as though in temper and walked to her car. 1999, Colm Tóibín, chapter 4, in The Blackwater Lightship, New York: Scribner, page 110
5. Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure.
   to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper
   Afore we got to the shanty Colonel Applegate stuck his head out of the door. His temper had been getting raggeder all the time, and the sousing he got when he fell overboard had just about ripped what was left of it to ravellings. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
6. (obsolete) Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.
   […] it is hard to say, whether [Christ’s] pain was more shamefull, or his shame more painfull unto him: the exquisiteness of his bodily temper, increasing the exquisiteness of his torment, and the ingenuity of his Soul, adding to his sensibleness of the indignities and affronts offered until him. 1650, Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof, London: John Williams, Book 3, Chapter 12, p. 345
7. Middle state or course; mean; medium.
8. The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities.
   the temper of mortar
9. The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.
10. The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling.
    the temper of iron or steel
11. (sugar manufacture, historical) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.
    1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, pp. xciv-xcv, All cane juice is liable to rapid fermentation. As soon, therefore, as the clarifier is filled, the fire is lighted, and the temper (white lime of Bristol) is stirred into it. The alkali of the lime having neutralized its superabundant acid, a part of it becomes the basis of the sugar.

verb

1. To moderate or control.
   Temper your language around children.
   It is all very well tempering enthusiasm for the Report in most of its particulars, as the thinking press has since the debate, …. 1963 June, “Second thoughts on Beeching”, in Modern Railways, page 361
2. To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal.
   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. (cooking) To adjust the temperature of an ingredient (e.g. eggs or chocolate) gradually so that it remains smooth and pleasing.
4. To sauté spices in ghee or oil to release essential oils for flavouring a dish in South Asian cuisine.
5. To mix clay, plaster or mortar with water to obtain the proper consistency.
6. (music) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use.
7. (obsolete, Latinism) To govern; to manage.
8. (archaic) To combine in due proportions; to constitute; to compose.
9. (archaic) 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.
   Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system. , Volume 2
   1682 (first performance), Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee / To temper man: we had been brutes without you.
   She [the Goddess of Justice] threw darkness and clouds about her, that tempered the light into a thousand beautiful shades and colours. 1709, Joseph Addison, The Tatler, number 100
10. (obsolete) To fit together; to adjust; to accommodate.