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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