Both Uses of
tempered
in
To the Lighthouse
- There was the cook now, Mildred, Marian, some such name as that—a red— headed woman, quick-tempered like all her sort, but kind, too, if you knew the way with her.†
Part 2 *quick-tempered = tending to get angry quickly
- Instantly, with the force of some primeval gust (for really he could not restrain himself any longer), there issued from him such a groan that any other woman in the whole world would have done something, said something—all except myself, thought Lily, girding at herself bitterly, who am not a woman, but a peevish, ill-tempered, dried-up old maid, presumably.†
Part 3
Definitions:
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(1)
(tempered as in: bad news tempered by kindness) made less extreme
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(2)
(tempered as in: tempered steel) made stronger or more flexible by heat treatment -- often of steel or glass
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(3)
(tempered as in: short-tempered) having a typical mood or temperament -- often in reference to how easily one is angered