temperance

plural temperances · alternative obsolete temperaunce

1. uncountableusuallyModeration or self-control in any action; control of the desire to act emotionally; calmness; (countable) an instance of this.

   [I]n the verie torrent[,] tempeſt, and as I may ſay, vvhirlvvind of your paſſion, you muſt acquire and beget a temperance, that may giue it ſmoothneſſe, […]

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature G3, verso

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   [A]s to be gouerned by a maieſtrate flowing in ſcience ⁊ knowledge, ⁊ fayling of nobleneſſe, is both miſerable ⁊ troubleſome: ſo, it cannot but be intollerable to liue under yͤ controulment of him, to whom fortune hath geuen greatnes of place ⁊ birth, ⁊ grace ⁊ nature denied diſcreſſion ⁊ other temperances of yͤ ſpirit, […]

   1575, Geffray Fenton [i.e., Geoffrey Fenton], “To Don Fardinando de Toledo, to whom ar Expounded Two Authorities of the Scripture, and the Custome of the Egiptians in the Death of Their Frendes”, in Golden Epistles, Contayning Varietie of Discourse both Morall, Philosophicall, and Diuine: […], London: […] Henry Middleton, for Rafe Newbury, […], →OCLC, folio 18, verso

   [T]he choice of a venerable old man, for an office vvhich vvas uſually exerciſed by eunuchs, announced to the court of Conſtantinople the gravity and temperance of the Britiſh uſurper.

   1781, Edward Gibbon, chapter XXVII, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume III, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 9

   What was the government doing keeping schools open when our closest neighbours – Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – had already closed theirs? […] Those who were being charitable asked for temperance. Our government surely had a credible plan? Somewhere. Right?

   2020 June 11, Lola Okolosie, “This bungled schools coronavirus policy hurts children, parents and teachers”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2023

   Synonyms: patience, sedateness · Antonyms: intemperance

   1. dateduncountableusuallyRestraint or self-control when made angry or frustrated; forbearance.

      He gheſt his nature by his countenance, / And calmd his vvrath vvith goodly temperance.

      1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 34, page 114

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      Enough, you stand a traitor by my hearth, / And yet I draw not! Sir, I cannot pledge / This temperance long; the path of safety's there.

      1849 June 20 (first performance), [John] Westland Marston, “Strathmore”, in The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Westland Marston. […], collective edition, volume I, London: Chatto and Windus, […], published 1876, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 10

      Synonyms: patience, sedateness · Antonyms: intemperance

2. uncountableusuallyHabitualmoderation in regard to the indulgence of natural appetites and passions; moderate or restrained indulgence.

   temperance in eating and drinking

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   temperance in the indulgence of joy

   And as he [Paul the Apostle] preached of Juſtice⸝ temperaunce⸝ and Judgement to come⸝ Felix trembled⸝ and anſwered: thou haſt done ynough att this tyme⸝ I will ſẽde for the [send for thee].

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Actes off the Apostles xxiiij:[55], folio cxcij, recto

   But the frute of the ſprete [spirit], is loue, ioye, peace, longe ſufferinge, gẽtlenes [gentleness], goodneſſe, faithfulnes, mekeneſſe, tẽperaunce [temperaunce], Agaynſt ſoch is not yͤ lawe: […]

   1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Galathians v:[22–23], folio lxxxiij, verso, column 1

   VVhen it [virtue] ruleth and ordereth our luſt or concupiſcence, limiting out a certaine meaſure, and lavvfull proportion of time unto pleaſures, it is called Temperance: […]

   1603, Plutarch, “Of Morall Vertve”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 65

   Let vs imitate the feaſts and meetings of holy Chriſtians in former ages: VVho did begin their Feaſtes vvith Prayers; continue them vvith Temperance, and Sobrietie; eating no more then vvould ſuffice their hunger; drinking no more then vvould quench and ſatisfie their thirſt: […]

   1628, William Prynne, Healthes: Sicknesse. Or, A Compendiovs and Briefe Discourse; Prouing, the Drinking, and Pledging of Healthes, to be Sinfull, and Vtterly Vnlawfull vnto Christians; […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews], →OCLC, page 22

   Antonyms: intemperance, gluttony, overindulgence

   1. uncountableusuallyHabitualModeration in the use of intoxicating substances; sobriety; specifically, complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages; teetotalism.

      Public-houses, besides their usual exhortation against temperance reform, invited men to "Join our Christmas goose club"—one bottle of gin, etc., or two, according to subscription.

      1908–1910 (date written; published 1910 October 18), E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Christmas Shopping”, in Howards End, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.; London: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons […], published 1910, →OCLC, page 97

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      So having furniſhed our ſelves vvith neceſſary materials, and agreed upon ſome particular Rules, eſpecially of Temperance and Sobriety, by reaſon of the length of our intended Voyage, vve all vvent on board our Ship.

      1697, William Dampier, chapter IV, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 69

      Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible, and therefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind some hundreds of years thereafter.

      1842 February 22 (date delivered), Abraham Lincoln, An Address Delivered before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society, at the Second Presbyterian Church, on the 22d Day of February, 1842, Springfield, Ill.: […] Springfield Reform Club, published 1882, →OCLC, page 6

      So now the frauds reckoned they was out of danger, and they begun to work the villages again. First they done a lecture on temperance; but they didn't make enough for them both to get drunk on.

      1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXI, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 314

      Spare me the customary sermon, mother. […] It will end by my going straight to my dressing-room after hunting, where I can enjoy a stiff glass of grog with my feet on the hobs, and with nobody to preach temperance.

      [1887], [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “Contrasts”, in Like and Unlike […], volume I, London: Spencer Blackett (successor to J[ohn] & R[obert] Maxwell) […], →OCLC, page 26

      But mind, captain and crew must all be temperance men; there is not to be one single drop of drink—mind—not one single drop of drink put on board on any pretext whatever. You yourself have got to be a total abstainer for the whole voyage.

      1890, Walter Besant, “Of the Voyage”, in The Demoniac […], New York, N.Y.: F[rank] M[oore] Lupton, […], published 1890?, →OCLC, page 46

      Antonyms: intemperance, gluttony, overindulgence

   2. dateduncountableusuallyHabitualSynonym of chastity (“abstinence from any sexual activity considered immoral”).

      Synonyms: chastity · Antonyms: intemperance, gluttony, overindulgence

3. obsoleteuncountableusuallyThe action of bringing to a temperate or moderate state.

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   [H]e [Marcus Aurelius] addyng to abundaunce of lernyng became therby a wonderfull and perfecte prince: beynge neyther by ſtudy withdrawen from affaires of the publike weale: nor by any buſynes⸝ vtterly pluckyd frome Philoſophy⸝ and other noble doctrynes⸝ by the whiche mutuall coniunction and iuſt temperaunce of thoſe two ſtudyes⸝ be attayned to ſuche a fourme in all his gouernaunce⸝ that he was named and taken for father of the Senate: of the people: and vniuerſally of all the hole empyre.

   1531, Thomas Elyot, “What is the True Signification of Vnderstandynge”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio 242, verso

   Antonyms: intemperance

4. obsoleteuncountableusuallyProper moderation between extreme or opposing qualities; (countable) an instance of this.

   [L]ette theym take the counſayle of an honeſt and perfyte phiſytion, and no aduenture to myxte thynges togyther, without knowynge the temperaunce of them in degrees, […]

   153[9], Thomas Elyot, “The Particular Commodities of Euery Purgacion”, in The Castel of Helth […], London: […] Thomæ Bertheleti […], →OCLC, book III, folio 60, verso

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   But ſvveet Charillis is the Paragone / Of peerleſſe price, and ornament of praiſe, / Admyr'd of all, yet enuied of none, / Through the myld temperance of her goodly raies.

   1595, Ed. Spencer [i.e., Edmund Spenser], Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, signature [C4], recto

   The marrovv vvhich proceedeth from the Chine-bone of an Hyæna, being mixed vvith his gall and old Oyle together, and ſo boiled vntill they come vnto a ſoft temperance, and mollifying medicine, being annointed vpon the ſinnevvs, doth expell and force avvay all paine of griefe thereof vvhatſoeuer.

   1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, “Of the Mantichora”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 443

   Surely, along that ample stretch of generous soil, where the Appalachian ruggednesses calm themselves into pleasant hills before dying quite away into the sea-board levels, a man can find such temperances of heaven and earth—enough of struggle with nature to draw out manhood, with enough of bounty to sanction the struggle—that a more exquisite co-adaptation of all blessed circumstances for man's life need not be sought.

   1880 October, [Sidney Lanier], “The New South”, in J[osiah] G[ilbert] Holland, editor, Scribner’s Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine for the People, volume XX, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Scribner & Co., […], →OCLC, page 851, column 1

   Antonyms: intemperance

5. obsoleteuncountableusuallyTemperature which is neither too cold nor too hot.

   [T]his Iſland ſeeme to be deſert. […] It muſt needs be of ſubtle, tender, and delicate temperance.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 6, column 2

   Antonyms: intemperance

1. not comparableAdvocating or practising complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages.

   […] I wouldn't have any of the whisky, and they were angry with me at that. 'They're temperance down at the Point in these times,' they said, and then they all laughed; and that was wonderful too, their knowing about the Point.

   1906 August 28, John Masefield, “The Rest-house on the Hill”, in A Tarpaulin Muster, London: E[lisina] Grant Richards, published 1907, →OCLC, page 138

1. A female given name from English.
2. human sciencesThe fourteenth trump or major arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.