contemperation

contemperation

English

Noun

contemperation (countable and uncountable, plural contemperations)

1. (obsolete) The act of tempering or moderating.
   • 1646/50, Sir Thomas Browne, “Chap. 21, Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Book 3:

     Fourthly, The proper use of ayre attracted by the lungs, and without which there is no durable continuation in life, is not the nutrition of parts, but the contemperation of that fervour in the heart, and the ventilation of that fire alwaies maintained in the forge of life;

2. (obsolete) A proportionate mixture or combination
   • 1664, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours

     Contemperation of light and shade.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for contemperation in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)