▪ I. distempered, ppl. a.1
(dɪˈstɛmpəd)
[f. distemper v.1 + -ed; perh. immed. after OF. destempré immoderate, excessive, deranged, or med.L. distemperātus distemperate.]
† 1. Of the weather, air, etc.: Not temperate; inclement; = distemperate a. 1. Obs.
| 1490 Caxton Eneydos xii. 46 Considerynge the wynter that is alle dystempred. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 37 Situat maist comodiusly fra distemprit ayr ande corruppit infectione. 1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits xiv. (1596) 241 They inhabit places distempered, where men become..ill conditioned. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. i. 4 Muse, leaue the wayward Mount to his distempred heate. |
† 2. Of the bodily humours: = distemperate 2. Hence, disturbed in humour, temper, or feelings; out of humour, vexed, troubled. Obs.
| 1595 Shakes. John iv. iii. 21 Once more to-day well met, distemper'd Lords. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 212 His hastie distempered humour would breed great troubles in the State. 1635 R. Brathwait Arcad. Pr. ii. 136 The happy attemperature of his distempered humour. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 1131 From thus distemperd brest..Adam..Speech intermitted thus to Eve renewd. 1762 Churchill Ghost iv, Why should the distemper'd Scold Attempt to blacken Men? |
3. Disordered, diseased, affected with a distemper. a. Physically.
| 1440 Generydes (E.E.T.S.) 766 So sodenly..All distemperyd and out of colour clene. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cliii, I, sick withal..thither hied, a sad distemper'd guest, But found no cure. 1688 Boyle Final Causes Mat. Things, Vitiated Sight 271 When..reading, she was fain to shut the distempered eye, and imploy only the other. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) I. iv. §2 Sick and distempered People. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 415 What is weak, Distempered, or has lost prolific powers, Impaired by age. 1825 Waterton Wand. S. Amer. ii. iii. 192 The insects which have already formed a lodgement in the distempered tree. |
b. Mentally disordered, insane. Of persons (obs. or arch.); their brain, mind, fancy, feelings, actions, etc.
| 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. ii. v. §7 Speeches vttered in heat of distempered affection. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Familie v, Griefs without a noise..speak..louder, then distemper'd fears. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiv. 208 To a Distempered brain. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 807 Distemperd, discontented thoughts. 1692 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 638 One Thomas, a distempered man..was ordered to be sent to Bedlam for a madman. 1718 Free-thinker No. 82 ¶9 The Lives of most Men are but distempered Dreams. 1727 Swift Further Acc. E. Curll Wks. 1755 III. i. 161 His books, which his distempered imagination represented to him as alive. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner iv. 82 As if the Warbler..Upbraided his distempered folly. 1810 Crabbe Borough xxii, There they seized him—a distemper'd man. 1851 Ruskin Stones Ven. (1874) I. xxv. 285 The visions of a distempered fancy. 1857 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets II. xiv. 166 The darkened and distempered genius of Byron. |
4. transf. and fig. Disordered, deranged, distracted, out of joint.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. ii. 15 He cannot buckle his distemper'd cause Within the belt of Rule. a 1628 Preston Serm. bef. his Majestie (1630) 18 We are wont to lay aside cracked vessels, and distempered watches as unusefull. 1649 Bp. Reynolds Hosea Ep. 2 The..difficulties under which this distempered Kingdom is now groaning. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. i. 17 Such an irregular distemperd world. 1879 Q. Rev. Apr. 414 Those distempered times. |
† 5. Immoderate, inordinate, intemperate; = distemperate 3. Obs.
| 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 152/2 Verie temperat and modest, seldome or neuer in anie distempered or extraordinarie choler. 1644 Laud Wks. (1854) IV. 121 He must answer for his own distempered language. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 90 [He] died through distempered drinking. |
† 6. Of metal: Deprived of ‘temper’. Obs. rare.
| 1796 Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 446 Common annealed, or distempered steel. |
Hence diˈstemperedly adv.; also diˈstemperedness.
| a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes ii. xxxiv. (1640) 181 We must pray to God for such a measure of wisedome and patience, that crosses may not work so distemperedly upon us. 1649 St. Trials, J. Lilburne (R.), The distemperedness and invenomedness of spirit which is within you. 1832 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXXI. 257 Nature..will not suffer such eyes to look distemperedly on her works. |
▪ II. † diˈstempered, ppl. a.2 Obs.
[f. distemper v.2]
1. Diluted; weakened or impaired by dilution.
(In quot. 1621 app. = Badly mixed or tempered. More or less influenced by distempered ppl. a.1)
| 1621–31 Laud Sev. Serm. (1847) 72 If it be laid with ‘untempered’, or ‘distempered morter’, all will be naught. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 330 The Clove..in the morne a pale greene, in the meridian a distempered red. 1743 Lond. & Country Brew. ii. (ed. 2) 106 Great Quantities of distempered Beers, Ales, and other Liquors. |
2. Painted in distemper.
| 1769 Dublin Mercury 23 Sept. 1/3 Colour rooms..with fine blue..or any other distempered colours. |