(n.) Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure; as, to keep one's temper.
(n.) Constitution of body; temperament; in old writers, the mixture or relative proportion of the four humors, blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.
(n.) Disposition of mind; the constitution of the mind, particularly with regard to the passions and affections; as, a calm temper; a hasty temper; a fretful temper.
(n.) Heat of mind or passion; irritation; proneness to anger; -- in a reproachful sense.
(n.) Middle state or course; mean; medium.
(n.) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.
(n.) The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling; as, the temper of iron or steel.
(n.) The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities; just combination; as, the temper of mortar.
(v. i.) To accord; to agree; to act and think in conformity.
(v. i.) To have or get a proper or desired state or quality; to grow soft and pliable.
(v. t.) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use.
(v. t.) To bring to a proper degree of hardness; as, to temper iron or steel.
(v. t.) To fit together; to adjust; to accomodate.
(v. t.) To govern; to manage.
(v. t.) To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm.
(v. t.) To moisten to a proper consistency and stir thoroughly, as clay for making brick, loam for molding, etc.