Distemper

1. An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts.
2. Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold.
3. A morbid state of the animal system; indisposition; malady; disorder; -- at present chiefly applied to diseases of brutes; as, a distemper in dogs; the horse distemper; the horn distemper in cattle.
4. Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor.
5. Political disorder; tumult.
1. A preparation of opaque or body colors, in which the pigments are tempered or diluted with weak glue or size (cf. Tempera) instead of oil, usually for scene painting, or for walls and ceilings of rooms.
2. A painting done with this preparation.

This meaning and most of the following are to be referred to the Galenical doctrine of the four “humors” in man. See Humor. According to the old physicians, these humors, when unduly tempered, produce a disordered state of body and mind.