Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TEM'PER-A-MENT, n. [Fr., from L. temperamentum.]

1. Constitution; state with respect to the predominance of any quality; as, the temperament of the body. Bodies are denominated hot and cold, in proportion to the present temperament of that part of our body to which they are applied. Locke.
2. Medium; due mixture of different qualities. The common last – has reduced the kingdom to its just state and temperament. Hale.
3. In music, temperament is an operation which, by means of a slight alteration in the intervals, causes the difference between two contiguous sounds to disappear, and makes each of them appear identical with the other. Rousseau. Temperament is the accommodation or adjustment of the imperfect sounds, by transferring a part of their defects to the more perfect ones, to remedy in part the false intervals of instruments of fixed sounds, as the organ, harpsichord, forte piano, &c. Busby. The harshness of a given concord increases with the temperament. Prof. Fisher.