Temperature \Tem"per*a*ture\, n. [F. temp['e]rature, L.
temperatura due measure, proportion, temper, temperament.]
1. Constitution; state; degree of any quality.
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The best composition and temperature is, to have
openness in fame and opinion, secrecy in habit,
dissimulation in seasonable use, and a power to
feign, if there be no remedy. --Bacon.
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Memory depends upon the consistence and the
temperature of the brain. --I. Watts.
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2. Freedom from passion; moderation. [Obs.]
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In that proud port, which her so goodly graceth,
Most goodly temperature you may descry. --Spenser.
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3. (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; as,
the temperature of the air; high temperature; low
temperature; temperature of freezing or of boiling.
Note: The temperature of a liquid or a solid body as measured
by a thermometer is a measure of the average kinetic
energy of the consituent atoms or molecules of the
body. For other states of matter such as plasma,
electromagnetic radiation, or subatomic particles, an
analogous measure of the average kinetic energy may be
expressed as a temperature, although it could never be
measured by a traditional thermometer, let alone by
sensing with the skin.
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4. Mixture; compound. [Obs.]
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Made a temperature of brass and iron together.
--Holland.
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5. (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[deg]-99.5[deg] F., in the mouth of an adult about
98.4[deg]).
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Absolute temperature. (Physics) See under Absolute.
Animal temperature (Physiol.), the nearly constant
temperature maintained in the bodies of warm-blooded
(homoiothermal) animals during life. The ultimate source
of the heat is to be found in the potential energy of the
food and the oxygen which is absorbed from the air during
respiration. See Homoiothermal.
Temperature sense (Physiol.), the faculty of perceiving
cold and warmth, and so of perceiving differences of
temperature in external objects. --H. N. Martin.
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Absolute \Ab"so*lute\, a. [L. absolutus, p. p. of absolvere: cf.
F. absolu. See Absolve.]
1. Loosed from any limitation or condition; uncontrolled;
unrestricted; unconditional; as, absolute authority,
monarchy, sovereignty, an absolute promise or command;
absolute power; an absolute monarch.
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2. Complete in itself; perfect; consummate; faultless; as,
absolute perfection; absolute beauty.
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So absolute she seems,
And in herself complete. --Milton.
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3. Viewed apart from modifying influences or without
comparison with other objects; actual; real; -- opposed to
relative and comparative; as, absolute motion;
absolute time or space.
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Note: Absolute rights and duties are such as pertain to man
in a state of nature as contradistinguished from
relative rights and duties, or such as pertain to him
in his social relations.
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4. Loosed from, or unconnected by, dependence on any other
being; self-existent; self-sufficing.
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Note: In this sense God is called the Absolute by the Theist.
The term is also applied by the Pantheist to the
universe, or the total of all existence, as only
capable of relations in its parts to each other and to
the whole, and as dependent for its existence and its
phenomena on its mutually depending forces and their
laws.
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5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone;
unconditioned; non-relative.
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Note: It is in dispute among philosopher whether the term, in
this sense, is not applied to a mere logical fiction or
abstraction, or whether the absolute, as thus defined,
can be known, as a reality, by the human intellect.
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To Cusa we can indeed articulately trace, word
and thing, the recent philosophy of the absolute.
--Sir W.
Hamilton.
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6. Positive; clear; certain; not doubtful. [R.]
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I am absolute 't was very Cloten. --Shak.
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7. Authoritative; peremptory. [R.]
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The peddler stopped, and tapped her on the head,
With absolute forefinger, brown and ringed. --Mrs.
Browning.
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8. (Chem.) Pure; unmixed; as, absolute alcohol.
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9. (Gram.) Not immediately dependent on the other parts of
the sentence in government; as, the case absolute. See
Ablative absolute, under Ablative.
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Absolute curvature (Geom.), that curvature of a curve of
double curvature, which is measured in the osculating
plane of the curve.
Absolute equation (Astron.), the sum of the optic and
eccentric equations.
Absolute space (Physics), space considered without relation
to material limits or objects.
Absolute terms. (Alg.), such as are known, or which do not
contain the unknown quantity. --Davies & Peck.
Absolute temperature (Physics), the temperature as measured
on a scale determined by certain general thermo-dynamic
principles, and reckoned from the absolute zero.
Absolute zero (Physics), the be ginning, or zero point, in
the scale of absolute temperature. It is equivalent to
-273[deg] centigrade or -459.4[deg] Fahrenheit.
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Syn: Positive; peremptory; certain; unconditional; unlimited;
unrestricted; unqualified; arbitrary; despotic;
autocratic.
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