The Collaborative International Dictionary
Attemper \At*tem"per\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Attempered; p. pr. & vb. n. Attempering.] [OF. atemprer, fr. L. attemperare; ad + temperare to soften, temper. See Temper, and cf. Attemperate.]
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To reduce, modify, or moderate, by mixture; to temper; to regulate, as temperature.
If sweet with bitter . . . were not attempered still.
--Trench. To soften, mollify, or moderate; to soothe; to temper; as, to attemper rigid justice with clemency.
To mix in just proportion; to regulate; as, a mind well attempered with kindness and justice.
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To accommodate; to make suitable; to adapt.
Arts . . . attempered to the lyre.
--Pope.Note: This word is now not much used, the verb temper taking its place.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
vb. 1 To temper by adjusting relative quantities, or blending qualities. 2 To mitigate, assuage. 3 (context archaic English) To regulate, arrange, organise.
WordNet
v. modify the temperature of; "attemper the air"
Usage examples of "attemper".
I pray you, cousin, wisely that ye ride: Governe you also of your diet Attemperly,* and namely** in this heat.
Prudence answered, "Certes, well I wot, attempered [moderate] weeping is nothing defended [forbidden] to him that sorrowful is, among folk in sorrow but it is rather granted him to weep.
And when the nighte past and run Was, and the newe day begun, -- The young morrow with rayes red, Which from the sun all o'er gan spread, Attemper'd* cleare was and fair, *clement, calm And made a time of wholesome air, -- Befell a wondrous case* and strange *chance, event Among the people, and gan change Soon the word, and ev'ry woe Unto a joy, and some to two.
Now hath th'attemper* sun all that releaved** *temperate **furnished That naked was, and clad it new again.
The joyous birds, shrouded in cheerful shade, Their notes unto the voice attemper'd sweet.
By middle age, or sooner, the creed has generally wrought upon the heart, or been attempered by it.
There he found the Man of Iron, with his massive substance, thoroughly warmed and attempered by domestic influences.
Part 16 But I think that of all the qualities heat and cold exercise the least operation in the body, for these reasons: as long time as hot and cold are mixed up with one another they do not give trouble, for the cold is attempered and rendered more moderate by the hot, and the hot by the cold.
As for the sinews, he made them of a mixture of bone and unfermented flesh, attempered so as to be in a mean, and gave them a yellow colour.