Definition of "distemper" in English

noun

1. (veterinary medicine, pathology) A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.

2. (archaic) A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.

3. A glue-based paint.

4. (countable) A painting produced with this kind of paint.

verb

1. To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.

2. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.

3. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant.

   • 1799-1800, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (translator), The Piccolomini by Friedrich Schiller, Boston: Francis A. Niccolls & Co., 1902, p. 37, I have been long accustomed to defend you, To heal and pacify distempered spirits.

4. To intoxicate.

5. To paint using distemper.

6. To mix (colours) in the way of distemper.

   • to distemper colors with size