unˈtempered, ppl. a.
[un-1 8. Cf. MDu. ongetempert, Du. ongetemperd, MHG. ungetempert.]
1. Unregulated; not moderated or controlled.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ix. 102 Wolde neuere þe faithful fader his fithel were vntempred. a 1547 Surrey Eccl. v. 52 What lyef leede testeye men that consume their dayes In inwarde freets, untempred hates. 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc iii. i, Your eldest sonne, misledd By traitours framde of young vntempered wittes Assembleth force against your yonger sonne. 1631 A. Wilson Swisser iii. ii, I wilbee your Stickler, You too vntemper'd Vermin! 1808 W. Mitford Hist. Greece I. 584 Every untempered government must be jealous. Ibid. III. 72 The spirit of party will pervade a state with..untempered and..lasting violence. |
b. Unmodified, unqualified. Freq.
const. by.
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 603 The utmost rigour of legal justice untempered by equity. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 203 The spirit of monarchy, untempered by representation. 1847 H. Rogers Ess. (1860) I. 240 His eyes ache with that too untempered brilliance. 1868 Freeman Norm. Conq. x. II. 481 Rigid justice, untempered by mercy. |
2. Of lime or mortar: Not properly mixed and prepared. Also in
fig. context.
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 395 Vntempred lime yf with the graffes be Putte in the plages. 1535 Coverdale Ezek. xiii. 11 Y⊇ wall, that ye haue dawbed with vntempered morter. 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop Cerem. iii. i. 7 He laboureth to plaister over his Superstition with the vntempered morter of this quidditative distinction. 1661 Cowley Cromwell Wks. 1906 II. 362 That none of these untempered Mortars can hold out against the next blast of Wind. 1755 Young Centaur v. 311 This castle was built out of the various ruins of many demolish'd forts of infidelity,..and cemented with untemper'd mortar. 1826 Southey Vind. Eccl. Angl. 44, I have not been labouring in the quarries for thirty years, that I should build with untempered mortar. 1896 A. D. Coleridge Eton in Forties 8 His gloves..[being] bedaubed..with untempered mortar. |
| transf. 1781 Cowper Hope 627 To storm the citadels they build in air, And smite th' untemper'd wall, 'tis death to spare. |
b. Not properly digested or concocted.
| 1822 Good Study Med. II. 757 The untempered fluid contained in the tubercles. Ibid. IV. 695 A defective secretion of the rete mucosum, which..seems to be..untempered or imperfectly elaborated. |
c. Unhardened.
| 1820 Good Syst. Nosology 427 Bones untempered in their substance, and incapable of affording their proper support. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 322 A screw of untempered steel. 1839 Noad Electricity 239 A disc of untempered steel. |