A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1456-1611
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Temperat(e, -it, adj. (adv.). Also: temporat(e, -it, tempryt. [ME and e.m.E. temperat (Wyclif), temperate (1432-50), temporate (1551), L. temperātus, p.p. of temperāre. Cf. Temperit ppl. adj.]
A. adj. 1. Of the weather, etc.: Mild, moderate, not extreme. b. Of a beverage: ? Cool, not inducing heat. a1400 Legends of the Saints xliv 288.
A ful gret fyre he gert mak … About hyr … & kiste thare-in pyk & brynstan To byrne hyre … Bot that grewit hyre nomare Na it a tempryt bath ware 1460 Hay Alex. 16201.
Sa temperit and sa sobir was the are 1490 Irland Mir. I 77/31.
Paradice is a richt nobile place of plesaunce, with sueit and temporit aire 1490 Irland Mir. I 78/23.
Sene this nobile place of paradice … was sa temporat, … it is in the place of the Erde … quhare the aire is maist conuenient and temporate 1513 Doug. iv Prol. 127.
In temperat warmnes, nother to cald nor hait 1528 Lynd. Dreme 763.
Herbe and tree, thare growis euer grene, Throw vertew of the temperat air 1533 Boece 109b.
The ilis of Orknay for fertilite, temperate and halesum are, mycht be preferrit 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 34/25.
Quhen the plag of pestilens occurris, ve ar solist to seik ane cleene duelling place vndir ane temperat climat c1580-90 Rules of Health 2.
Hald ȝour self ewir safer … quhen the aire is temperateb. 1456 Hay II 129/6.
Than suld men drynk gayte milk on mornis, and efter nane drynk temperit drynkis with calde herbis with vynager
2. Of a person, his temperament, behaviour, etc.: Moderate, measured, not extreme; conciliatory. 1456 Hay I 296/24.
Sobir, temperit, and gracious 1456 Hay II 63/4.
Quhen knycht knawis nocht his quantiteis of his mesure in all his dedis his honoure is in were: for he suld be temperit in larges, that he be nouthir fule large na our wrechit [etc.] 1490 Irland Mir. III 121/18.
And a prince be nocht temporat in him self bot lat passiounis regne and haue dominacioun in him [etc.] c1520-c1535 Nisbet Titus iii 2.
To blaspheme na man, to be nocht full of chiding, bot temperate, schewand all myldnes to all men 1568 Skeyne Descr. Pest 25.
Temperat hilaritie & blythnes ar maist commendable 1558-66 Knox II 275.
I perceave by your anger that the fyre-edge is nott of you yit but I fear, that after the holy watter of the courte be sprinckled upoun you, that ye sall become as temperat as the rest a1578 Pitsc. II 59/32.
Sober myndit, richteous, godlie, temporat, and such as cleveth to the trew word of doctrene 1584 Aberd. Journal N. & Q. VI 114.
Ther salbe a ouk in the monethe … spent in … meditation, with sic modest, temperat, and humble behaviour as effeires 1604 James VI Tobacco 87/10.
Such customes … are euer … holden in great & reuerent estimation … by all wise, vertuous and temperate spirits 1611 Reg. Panmure I xxxii.
He wos wery temperat of his mouthe
B. adv. Moderately, without excess. 1596 Dalr. I 117/12.
Na man, quha leiues bot midway temperat in the tounes of Scotland, is nocht sune rich, for the … priuileges that thay haue
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"Temperat adj.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/temperate_adj>
