tempering Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun hardening something by heat treatment
    annealing.
  2. verb bring to a desired consistency, texture, or hardness by a process of gradually heating and cooling
    normalize; anneal; temper.
    • temper glass
  3. verb harden by reheating and cooling in oil
    harden; temper.
    • temper steel
  4. verb adjust the pitch (of pianos)
    temper.
  5. verb make more temperate, acceptable, or suitable by adding something else; moderate
    season; temper; mollify.
    • she tempered her criticism
  6. verb restrain
    moderate; chasten; temper.
  7. adjective satellite moderating by making more temperate

WordNet

Tem"per*ing noun
Definitions
  1. (Metal.) The process of giving the requisite degree of hardness or softness to a substance, as iron and steel; especially, the process of giving to steel the degree of hardness required for various purposes, consisting usually in first plunging the article, when heated to redness, in cold water or other liquid, to give an excess of hardness, and then reheating it gradually until the hardness is reduced or drawn down to the degree required, as indicated by the color produced on a polished portion, or by the burning of oil.

Webster 1913