Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.
  • noun A pigment prepared for painting according to this method.
  • To prepare, as a pigment, for use in distemper painting.
  • To change the temper or due proportions of.
  • To disease; disorder; derange the bodily or mental functions of.
  • To deprive of temper or moderation; ruffle; disturb.
  • To become diseased.
  • noun An unbalanced or unnatural temper; want of balance or proportion.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Specifically
  • noun A disease of young dogs, commonly considered as a catarrhal disorder.
  • noun Want of due temperature; severity of climate or weather.
  • noun Want of due balance of parts or opposite qualities and principles.
  • noun Ill humor; bad temper.
  • noun Political disorder; tumult.
  • noun Uneasiness; disorder of mind.
  • noun Synonyms Infirmity, Malady, etc. (see disease), complaint, disorder, ailment.
  • Lacking self-restraint; intemperate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
  • transitive verb To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.
  • transitive verb To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant.
  • transitive verb rare To intoxicate.
  • transitive verb (Paint.), rare To mix (colors) in the way of distemper.
  • noun An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts.
  • noun obsolete Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold.
  • noun A morbid state of the animal system; indisposition; malady; disorder; -- at present chiefly applied to diseases of brutes
  • noun obsolete Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor.
  • noun Political disorder; tumult.
  • noun 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.
  • noun A painting done with this preparation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun pathology A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.
  • noun archaic A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.
  • noun A water-based paint.
  • noun A painting produced with this kind of paint.
  • verb to disturb and disorder, hence to make sick
  • verb to paint using distemper

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb paint with distemper
  • noun any of various infectious viral diseases of animals
  • noun an angry and disagreeable mood
  • noun a painting created with paint that is made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder
  • noun a method of painting in which the pigments are mixed with water and a binder; used for painting posters or murals or stage scenery
  • noun paint made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder

Etymologies

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Examples

  • – They will not only ask what produced a scar, but they will insist upon knowing how long you have been troubled with it, whether the distemper is hereditary in your family, and whether you ever expect it will appear again.

    The Mother's Book 1831

  • Giotto painted upon wood, and in "distemper" -- the mixture of colour with egg or some other jelly-like substance.

    Pictures Every Child Should Know A Selection of the World's Art Masterpieces for Young People Mary Schell Hoke Bacon 1902

  • Robert Dossie described three categories of watercolor painting — miniature, the most delicate; distemper, which is coarser, uses less expensive colors in a glue or casein binder, and is appropriate for canvas hangings, ceilings, and other interior decorative painting purposes; and fresco. reference As a technique practiced by the Romans, fresco painting was a subject of particularly interest in the antiquity-obsessed eighteenth-century.

    The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe 2006

  • As I was working my way through this novel, a serendipitous but calamitous event occurred: strangles an equine disease also known as distemper infected a stable run by a good friend of mine.

    Firehorse Diane Lee Wilson 2006

  • It was a relapse of its former distemper, that is, of the bite of the mad-dog.

    Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699 Thomas Proctor Hughes

  • My distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off.

    Paras. 101-150 1909

  • My distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off.

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1994 Edition) 1909

  • Sad, undoubtedly, were our case, should God be angry with a nation as often as a preacher is pleased to be passionate, and to call his distemper the word of God.

    Sermons Preached Upon Several Occasions. Vol. V. 1634-1716 1823

  • As for Bobadilla, he was no sooner come to Rome, than he fell sick of a continued fever; and it may be said, that his distemper was the hand of heaven, which had ordained another in his stead for the mission of the Indies.

    The Works of John Dryden Dryden, John, 1631-1700 1808

  • My distemper was a pleurisy, which very nearly carried me off.

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 1771

Comments

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  • "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."

    -- from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

    Compare tempera.

    April 6, 2017

  • New list: fun things to do with ox-gall.

    April 6, 2017

  • I did consider it, but the thought of it made me sad.

    April 7, 2017