attemper (a temper)

t. [ Bacon . 2. To soften, mollify, or moderate: as, to at temper justice with clemency. Those smiling eyes attemp'ring every ray. Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 63. Those [influences) which, in older and more normally constituted communities, modify and attemper Mammon worship. The American, IV. 65. 3. To mix in just proportion; regulate. God hath so attempered the blood and bodies of fishes. Ray, Works of Creation. Pure of blame, In praise and in dispraise the same, A man of well - attemper'd frame. Tennyson, Duke of Wellington. 4. To accommodate; fit or make suitable. The joyous birdes, shrouded in che are full shade, Their notes unto the voice at temp red sweet. Arts attempered to the lyre. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 71. Pope. [In all its uses nearly obsolete, temper being generally used.]