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. To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
When... the humors in his body ben distempered. Chaucer.
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. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant. “Distempered spirits.” Coleridge.
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. (Paint.) To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to distemper colors with size.