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distemper1
See synonyms for distemper on Thesaurus.comTranslate distemper into Spanish
noun
mass noun1A viral disease of some animals, especially dogs, causing fever, coughing, and catarrh.
‘For example, parvovirus, distemper and rabies are diseases that can be vaccinated against.’- ‘Will the insurer cover routine wellness care, such as inoculations against distemper, rabies and other diseases?’
- ‘The canine distemper virus causes a highly contagious disease in dogs known as distemper.’
- ‘This species is also susceptible to a variety of diseases such as distemper, which is controlled in domestic dogs.’
- ‘Kamikaze died of distemper at a young age, and in 1939 Keller received one of his older brothers as a replacement.’
- ‘At the nearby Scott Base, seals are infected with canine distemper, a virus passed to them by researchers' dogs.’
2 archaic Political disorder.
‘an attempt to illuminate the moral roots of the modern world's distemper’- ‘The Hamlet world's distemper, she argues, stems mostly from the way the generational/political life cycle has been upset.’
- ‘Another reason for stalemate (or decline, as the case may be) in the stock market is the political distemper created by the major political parties.’
- ‘At the heart of the book is James's description of the democratic temperament, which I take to be a healthy corrective to the distemper that characterizes so much of politics today.’
Origin
Mid 16th century (originally in the sense ‘bad temper’, later ‘illness’): from Middle English distemper ‘upset, derange’, from late Latin distemperare ‘soak, mix in the wrong proportions’, from dis- ‘thoroughly’ + temperare ‘mingle’. Compare with temper. distemper (sense 1) dates from the mid 18th century.
distemper2
See synonyms for distemper on Thesaurus.comTranslate distemper into Spanish
noun
mass noun1A kind of paint using glue or size instead of an oil base, for use on walls or for scene-painting.
‘The kitchen gleamed from the distemper Dad had painted on its walls in contrasting shades of green and pink.’- ‘The walls were painted with a water-based powder distemper, usually in grass green or primrose colour.’
- ‘Paper was printed by hand using wooden blocks and distemper paint, which dried to a soft, matt finish.’
- ‘The family room pairs milk-painted and beeswaxed wainscoting below with a chalk-base distemper paint above.’
- ‘The rolls thus formed are laid out on a table where they are painted with a coat of ground color of distemper.’
- 1.1A method of mural and poster painting using distemper.‘We use camlin water colour for fine painting and distemper in general.’
- ‘Come a ‘chaste art festival’, then the distemper art rules the roost in major spots.’
- ‘Many of the artists, most particularly Vuillard, painted these in distemper and left them unlined and unvarnished, making them more fragile than oils on canvas.’
- ‘He painted in distemper, which produced a matt finish, and his gentle colour harmonies are very different from the brilliant or harsh hues often associated with German Expressionist painting.’
verb
[with object]Paint with distemper.
‘they distempered the walls a brilliant blue’- ‘the distempered roof timbers’
- ‘At Wissett Lodge, her rented home in Suffolk, she and Duncan distempered the walls a brilliant blue, and dyed the chair-covers with coloured ink.’
- ‘The bedroom walls were distempered a dark, shiny green, the curtains were green with spots on and the bedspread an uninspiring khaki.’
colour, apply paint to, decorate, tint, dye, stain, distemper, whitewash, emulsion, gloss, spray, spray-paint, airbrush, roller, coat, cover
Origin
Late Middle English (originally as a verb in the senses ‘dilute’ and ‘steep’): from Old French destremper or late Latin distemperare ‘soak’.
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