temperature

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment.
2. n. A measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a sample of matter, expressed in terms of units or degrees designated on a standard scale.
3. n. The degree of heat in the body of a living organism, usually about 37.0°C (98.6°F) in humans.
4. n. An abnormally high condition of body heat caused by illness; a fever.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In phenology, the temperature below which the germination of the seed and the growth of the plant do not take place.
2. n. Mixture, or that which is produced by mixture; a compound.
3. n. Constitution; state; temperament.
4. n. Moderation; freedom from passions or excesses.
5. n. Temper, as of metals.
6. n. Temperateness; mildness.
7. n. The state of a substance with regard to sensible heat; the degree or intensity of the sensible heat of a body. Primarily the conception of temperature is based on the different sensations produced by bodies when termed hot, warm, or cold, the hotter body being said to have the higher temperature. Again two bodies are said to have the same temperature when, by being placed in contact, neither is heated or cooled by the other. But these conceptions are relative. The absolute physical condition implied by temperature depends upon the nature of heat. Heat being considered to be molecular motion, temperature (or the degree of heat) is the expression of the velocity of the motion. The absolute scale of temperature recognizes this property, and preserves it in numerical measures which are proportional to the square of the corresponding molecular velocities. Thus temperature has the same dimensions as heat. The absolute zero of temperature is the point at which molecular motion ceases and all heat vanishes. This point is computed to be at—273° on the centigrade scale. Sir W. Thomson has shown that the changes in either volume or pressure of an ideal gas would give an absolute scale of temperature which would give true relative measures of absolute amounts of heat. In this system the temperature t is defined by the equation E = kt, in which E is the average kinetic energy per molecule of a perfect gas which has that temperature, and k a constant. This is called the thermodynamic definition of temperature. It should be noted that temperatures of actual masses of matter, when expressed on this scale, are true relative measures of the absolute amounts of heat which they contain so far as the specific heat of the bodies remains constant. In practice temperature is measured by the changes produced in bodies by heat, and thermometry is the instrumental art employed. Experiments show that the air- or gas-thermometer approximates most closely to the thermodynamic requirement that its indications shall bear a linear relation to successive increments of heat. In the next instance, the normal mercurial thermometer possesses this property to a high degree, and the small departures of its indications from the linear law have been made the subject of elaborate investigation. Other thermometers differ more or less widely in their indications from the foregoing, and it is important to note that without the thermodynamic conception the definition of temperature is dependent on the particular instrument or method employed for its measurement. After considering the thermodynamic scale and its absolute zero, it will be recognized that the system of numeration of the usual Fahrenheit and centigrade scales is entirely arbitrary. Numerical temperatures on these scales have only a relative significance, and cannot be made to serve in any absolute sense. See thermometry.
8. n. Specifically, the thermal element of weather or climate. If the whole surface of the earth were either land or water, and perfectly homogeneous, there would be the same temperature at every point on the same latitude; but in the case of an entire land surface the difference of temperature between the equator and the pole, and consequently the temperature gradient, would be much greater than in the case of an earth entirely covered by water. In the case of the actual earth with continents and oceans, the temperature gradients between the equator and the pole on the continents are somewhat as they would be in the case of an entire land surface, while on the ocean they are somewhat as on an entire water surface, and consequently the temperature gradients on the former are greater than on the latter; hence there are differences of temperature on the same latitude in different longitudes, and temperature gradients arise between regions of land and regions of water. As a result of these diversifying conditions, the mean sea-level temperature can be expressed as a function of latitude and longitude only by empirical methods, and by utilizing a large mass of observed data. The diminution of temperature with altitude is a further variation that can often be independently treated.
9. n. In physiology and pathology, the degree of heat of a living body, especially of the human body. It is usually taken, clinically, in the axilla, under the tongue, or in the rectum.

Wiktionary

1. n. obsolete The state or condition of being tempered or moderated.
2. n. archaic The balance of humours in the body, or one's character or outlook as considered determined from this; temperament.
3. n. A measure of cold or heat, often measurable with a thermometer.
4. n. An elevated body temperature, as present in fever and many illnesses.
5. n. when not used in relation with something The temperature(1) of the immediate environment.
6. n. this sense?) (medicine) Body temperature noted as: cool, cold, warm, or hot as part of the skin signs assessment

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Constitution; state; degree of any quality.
2. n. obsolete Freedom from passion; moderation.
3. n. (Physics) Condition with respect to heat or cold, especially as indicated by the sensation produced, or by the thermometer or pyrometer; degree of heat or cold
4. n. obsolete Mixture; compound.
5. n. (Physiol. & Med.) The degree of heat of the body of a living being, esp. of the human body; also (Colloq.), loosely, the excess of this over the normal (of the human body 98°-99.5° F., in the mouth of an adult about 98.4°).

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the degree of hotness or coldness of a body or environment (corresponding to its molecular activity)
2. n. the somatic sensation of cold or heat