distemper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An infectious viral disease occurring in dogs, characterized by loss of appetite, a catarrhal discharge from the eyes and nose, vomiting, fever, lethargy, partial paralysis caused by destruction of myelinated nerve tissue, and sometimes death. Also called canine distemper.
2. n. A similar viral disease of cats characterized by fever, vomiting, diarrhea leading to dehydration, and sometimes death. Also called feline distemper, panleukopenia.
3. n. Any of various similar mammalian diseases.
4. n. An illness or disease; an ailment: "He died . . . of a broken heart, a distemper which kills many more than is generally imagined” ( Henry Fielding).
5. n. Ill humor; testiness.
6. n. Disorder or disturbance, especially of a social or political nature.
7. v. To put out of order.
8. v. Archaic To unsettle; derange.
9. n. A process of painting in which pigments are mixed with water and a glue-size or casein binder, used for flat wall decoration or scenic and poster painting.
10. n. The paint used in this process.
11. n. A painting made by this process.
12. v. To mix (powdered pigments or colors) with water and size.
13. v. To paint (a work) in distemper.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To change the temper or due proportions of.
2. To disease; disorder; derange the bodily or mental functions of.
3. To deprive of temper or moderation; ruffle; disturb.
4. To become diseased.
5. n. An unbalanced or unnatural temper; want of balance or proportion.
6. n. Disease; malady; indisposition; any morbid state of an animal body or of any part of it: now most commonly applied to the diseases of brutes.
7. n. Specifically.
8. n. A disease of young dogs, commonly considered as a catarrhal disorder. It is in general characterized by a running from the nose and eyes as one of the first and leading symptoms, and is usually accompanied by a short dry cough, and succeeded by wasting of the flesh and loss of strength and spirits.
9. n. Want of due temperature; severity of climate or weather.
10. n. Want of due balance of parts or opposite qualities and principles.
11. n. Ill humor; bad temper.
12. n. Political disorder; tumult.
13. n. Uneasiness; disorder of mind.
14. n. Synonyms Infirmity, Malady, etc. (see disease), complaint, disorder, ailment.
15. Lacking self-restraint; intemperate.
16. To prepare, as a pigment, for use in distemper painting.
17. n. A method of painting in which the colors are mixed with any binding medium soluble in water, such as yolk of egg and an equal quantity of water, yolk and white of egg beaten together and mixed with an equal quantity of milk, fig-tree sap, vinegar, wine, ox-gall, etc. Strictly speaking, distemper painting is painting in water-color with a vehicle of which yolk of egg is the chief ingredient, upon a surface usually of wood or canvas, covered with a ground of chalk or plaster mixed with gum, this ground itself being frequently called distemper. See distemper-ground. If the glutinous medium is present in too great quantity, the colors will scale off when the painting is exposed to the air, so that they should be applied in thin layers and not be retouched until they are perfectly dry.
18. n. A pigment prepared for painting according to this method.

Wiktionary

1. n. pathology A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
2. n. archaic A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.
3. n. A water-based paint.
4. n. A painting produced with this kind of paint.
5. v. to disturb and disorder, hence to make sick
6. v. to paint using distemper

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. obsolete To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
2. v. To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.
3. v. To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant.
4. v. rare To intoxicate.
5. v. (Paint.), rare To mix (colors) in the way of distemper.
6. n. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts.
7. n. obsolete Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold.
8. n. A morbid state of the animal system; indisposition; malady; disorder; -- at present chiefly applied to diseases of brutes
9. n. obsolete Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor.
10. n. Political disorder; tumult.
11. n. A preparation of opaque or body colors, in which the pigments are tempered or diluted with weak glue or size (cf. Tempera) instead of oil, usually for scene painting, or for walls and ceilings of rooms.
12. n. A painting done with this preparation.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. paint with distemper
2. n. any of various infectious viral diseases of animals
3. n. an angry and disagreeable mood
4. n. a painting created with paint that is made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder
5. n. a method of painting in which the pigments are mixed with water and a binder; used for painting posters or murals or stage scenery
6. n. paint made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder