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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Distemper \Dis*tem"per\, n. [See {Distemper}, v. t., and cf.
{Destemprer}.]
1. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture
of parts. --Bacon.
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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.
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2. Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold.
[Obs.]
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Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a
distemper uninhabitable. --Sir W.
Raleigh.
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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.
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They heighten distempers to diseases. --Suckling.
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4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion
or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor.
[Obs.]
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Little faults proceeding on distemper. --Shak.
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Some frenzy distemper had got into his head.
--Bunyan.
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5. Political disorder; tumult. --Waller.
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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}.
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Distemper \Dis*tem"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Distempered}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Distempering}.] [OF. destemprer, destremper, to
distemper, F. d['e]tremper 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.]
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When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered.
--Chaucer.
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2. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or
spiritual; to disorder; to disease. --Shak.
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The imagination, when completely distempered, is the
most incurable of all disordered faculties.
--Buckminster.
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3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle;
to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant.
"Distempered spirits." --Coleridge.
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4. To intoxicate. [R.]
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The courtiers reeling,
And the duke himself, I dare not say distempered,
But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing.
--Massinger.
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5. (Paint.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to
distemper colors with size. [R.]
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