All 5 Uses of
tempered
in
Wuthering Heights
- There were no mutual concessions: one stood erect, and the others yielded: and who can be ill-natured and bad-tempered when they encounter neither opposition nor indifference?†
p. 66.2 *bad-tempered = tending to get angry or annoyed easily
- They could not every day sit so grim and taciturn; and it was impossible, however ill-tempered they might be, that the universal scowl they wore was their every-day countenance.†
p. 8.3
- A propensity to be saucy was one; and a perverse will, that indulged children invariably acquire, whether they be good tempered or cross.†
p. 137.6
- 'The worst-tempered bit of a sickly slip that ever struggled into its teens.†
p. 176.7
- He pressed its hand, and kissed the sarcastic, savage face that every one else shrank from contemplating; and bemoaned him with that strong grief which springs naturally from a generous heart, though it be tough as tempered steel.†
p. 244.4
Definitions:
-
(1)
(tempered as in: bad news tempered by kindness) made less extreme
-
(2)
(tempered as in: tempered steel) made stronger or more flexible by heat treatment -- often of steel or glass
-
(3)
(tempered as in: short-tempered) having a typical mood or temperament -- often in reference to how easily one is angered