v. Obs. or arch. [ad. L. contemper-āre to temper by mixing, f. con- with + temperāre to temper. Cf. F. contempérer (16th c.).]
1. trans. To mingle or blend together (elements of different character).
1579. Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 105. Wee must know to contemper the perfect manhoode and the perfecte Godhood.
1670. Walton, Life Donne, 80. The melancholy and pleasant humor were in him so contempered, that each gave advantage to the other.
1681–6. J. Scott, Chr. Life, II. 500. That which by it self might prove very pernicious, may by being contempered with others … become exceeding beneficial.
2. To temper by mixture with something of different character; to moderate, qualify.
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. iv. 18. Sulphur … doth contemper the sharpness or sowerness of mercurie.
1624. Wotton, Archit. (1672), 66. A Stove … to contemper the Air in Winter.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., IV. 120. Acids … contempered with a volatile Salt.
1751. Johnson, Rambler, No. 150, ¶ 3. The antidotes with which philosophy has medicated the cup of life … have at least allayed its bitterness, and contempered its malignity.
1868. Bushnell, Serm. Living Subj., 307. Our assemblies are all contempered by the heat of God’s living sacrifice for transgressors.
3. To adapt or adjust (to) by tempering.
1600. Abp. Abbot, Exp. Jonah, 232. He contempereth his phrases to our capacitie, and speaketh to us in our own tongue.
1696. Whiston, Th. Earth, IV. (1722), 294. He … previously adjusted and contemper’d the Moral and Natural World to one another.
1819. Coleridge, in Lett., Convers., etc., I. iv. 12. Contempered to a life of ease.
Hence Contempering vbl. sb.
1633. Prynne, Histrio-Mastix, I. 97 (R.). The contempering of some inferior virtues with more transcendent vices in our stage playes.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., VIII. 308. For the contempering … of lixivial Salts.
