'Tempered' definitions:

Definition of 'tempered'

From: WordNet
adjective
Made hard or flexible or resilient especially by heat treatment; "a sword of tempered steel"; "tempered glass" [syn: tempered, treated, hardened, toughened] [ant: unhardened, untempered]
adjective
Adjusted or attuned by adding a counterbalancing element; "criticism tempered with kindly sympathy" [ant: untempered]

Definition of 'Tempered'

From: GCIDE
  • Temper \Tem"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tempered; p. pr. & vb. n. Tempering.] [AS. temprian or OF. temper, F. temp['e]rer, and (in sense 3) temper, L. temperare, akin to tempus time. Cf. Temporal, Distemper, Tamper.]
  • 1. To mingle in due proportion; to prepare by combining; to modify, as by adding some new element; to qualify, as by an ingredient; hence, to soften; to mollify; to assuage; to soothe; to calm. [1913 Webster]
  • Puritan austerity was so tempered by Dutch indifference, that mercy itself could not have dictated a milder system. --Bancroft. [1913 Webster]
  • Woman! lovely woman! nature made thee To temper man: we had been brutes without you. --Otway. [1913 Webster]
  • But thy fire Shall be more tempered, and thy hope far higher. --Byron. [1913 Webster]
  • She [the Goddess of Justice] threw darkness and clouds about her, that tempered the light into a thousand beautiful shades and colors. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To fit together; to adjust; to accomodate. [1913 Webster]
  • Thy sustenance . . . serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man's liking. --Wisdom xvi. 21. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. (Metal.) To bring to a proper degree of hardness; as, to temper iron or steel. [1913 Webster]
  • The tempered metals clash, and yield a silver sound. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To govern; to manage. [A Latinism & Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • With which the damned ghosts he governeth, And furies rules, and Tartare tempereth. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To moisten to a proper consistency and stir thoroughly, as clay for making brick, loam for molding, etc. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. (Mus.) To adjust, as the mathematical scale to the actual scale, or to that in actual use. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: To soften; mollify; assuage; soothe; calm. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Tempered'

From: GCIDE
  • Tempered \Tem"pered\, a. Brought to a proper temper; as, tempered steel; having (such) a temper; -- chiefly used in composition; as, a good-tempered or bad-tempered man; a well-tempered sword. [1913 Webster]