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Temper

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To make trim. The Italians say, temperaʹre la lira, to tune the lyre; temperare una penna, to mend a pen; temperáre lʹoriuôlo. to wind up the clock. In Latin, temperare calamum is “to mend a pen.” Metal well tempered is metal made trim or meet for its use, and if not so it is called ill-tempered. When Otway says, “Woman, nature made thee to temper man,” he means to make him trim, to soften his nature, to mend him.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Teetotal
Teetotum (A)
Teian Muse (The)
Teinds
Telamonēs
Telegram
Telemachos
Tell (William)
Tellers of the Exchequer
Temora
Temper
Templars or Knights Templars
Temple (London)
Temple
Temple (A)
Temple Bar
Temple of Solomon
Temples (Pagan)
Tempora Mutantur
Ten
Ten Commandments (The)