Definition of "temper" in inglés

noun

1. A general tendency or orientation towards a certain type of mood, a volatile state; a habitual way of thinking, behaving or reacting.

   • to have a good, bad, or calm temper

2. State of mind; mood.

3. A tendency to become angry.

   • to have a hasty temper
   • He has quite a temper when dealing with salespeople.

4. Anger; a fit of anger.

   • an outburst of temper
   • When I heard about it I got myself into a terrible temper.

5. Calmness of mind; moderation; equanimity; composure.

   • to keep one's temper; to lose one's temper; to recover one's temper

6. (obsolete) Constitution of body; the mixture or relative proportion of the four humours: blood, choler, phlegm, and melancholy.

7. Middle state or course; mean; medium.

8. The state of any compound substance which results from the mixture of various ingredients; due mixture of different qualities.

   • the temper of mortar

9. The heat treatment to which a metal or other material has been subjected; a material that has undergone a particular heat treatment.

10. The state of a metal or other substance, especially as to its hardness, produced by some process of heating or cooling.

    • the temper of iron or steel

11. (sugar manufacture, historical) Milk of lime, or other substance, employed in the process formerly used to clarify sugar.

    • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, pp. xciv-xcv, All cane juice is liable to rapid fermentation. As soon, therefore, as the clarifier is filled, the fire is lighted, and the temper (white lime of Bristol) is stirred into it. The alkali of the lime having neutralized its superabundant acid, a part of it becomes the basis of the sugar.

12. (pottery, architecture) A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; tempering.

verb

1. To moderate or control.

   • Temper your language around children.

2. To strengthen or toughen a material, especially metal, by heat treatment; anneal.

   • Tempering is a heat treatment technique applied to metals, alloys, and glass to achieve greater toughness by increasing the strength of materials and/or ductility. Tempering is performed by a controlled reheating of the work piece to a temperature below its lower eutectic critical temperature.