Distemper

Distemper Dis*tem"per, n. [See {Distemper}, v. t., and cf. {Destemprer}.] 1. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

2. Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a distemper uninhabitable. --Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

They heighten distempers to diseases. --Suckling. [1913 Webster]

4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Little faults proceeding on distemper. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

Some frenzy distemper had got into his head. --Bunyan. [1913 Webster]

5. Political disorder; tumult. --Waller. [1913 Webster]

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}. [1913 Webster]