Definitions for: Distemper


[n] any of various infectious diseases of animals
[v] paint with distemper



Webster (1913) Definition: 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.]

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.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to
distemper colors with size. [R.]


Dis*tem"per, n. [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.

See Also: animal disease, canine distemper, equine distemper, paint, strangles

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