DISTEMPER

distemper. Distemper, v.t. to disorder, disease, sickness, uneasiness

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Dis‐tem″per (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distempered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Distempering.] [[OF. destemprer, destremper, to distemper, F. détremper 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. 1. To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered. Chaucer. 2. 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. 3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant. “Distempered spirits.” Coleridge.
4. 4. To intoxicate.
The courtiers reeling, And the duke himself, I dare not say distempered, But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing. Massinger. 5. 5. (Paint.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to distemper colors with size.