Tem"per*a*ture , n.
(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°-99.5° F., in the mouth
of an adult
about 98.4°).
Tem"per*a*ture (?), n.
[F. température, L.
temperatura due measure, proportion, temper, temperament.]
1. Constitution; state; degree of any quality.
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. Memory depends upon the consistence and the temperature of the brain.
I. Watts. 2. Freedom from passion; moderation. [Obs.]
In that proud
port, which her so goodly
graceth,
Most goodly
temperature you may descry.
Spenser. 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.
4. Mixture; compound. [Obs.]
Made a temperature of brass and iron together.
Holland. 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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