distant 
We passed by curtain Cisterns, some mile and better 
distant from the city. Sandy*, Travail.*, p. 189. 
2. Remote ; far off or far apart in space, time, 
connection, prospect, kind, degree, sound, etc. : 
as, distant stars ; a distant period ; distant rela- 
tives; a distant hope; & distant resemblance. 
Banners blazed 
With battles won in iiiiuiy a distant luml. 
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick. 
In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the dittant 
line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful 
as his own nature. l^'im-mntt, Nature. 
Tlir Iwy's cry came to her from the field, 
More and more distant. /V/t/i//.*"/i, Dora. 
Specifically 3. In entom. : () Thinly placed 
or scattered: as, distant punctures, stria;, 
spines, etc.: opposed to close, contiguous, etc. 
(6) Widely separated, or more separated than 
usual: opposed to approximate: as, distant eyes 
(widely separated at the base) ; distant legs or 
antennae, (c) Separated by an incisure or joint, 
as the head and thorax of a beetle. Kirby. 4 . 
Indirect ; not obvious or plain. 
In modest terms and distant phrases. 
Addison, Spectator. 
6. Not cordial or familiar ; characterized by 
haughtiness, coldness, or reserve ; cool ; re- 
served ; shy : as, distant manners. 
Good day, Anilntor; for to me the name 
Of brother is toodistant: we are friends. 
And that is nearer. 
Beau, and Ft., Maid's Tragedy, ill. 1. 
You will be surpriz'd, in the midst of a daily and famil- 
iar Conversation, with an Address which bears so distant 
an Air as a publick Dedication. 
Steele, Tender Husband, Ded. 
= Syn. 1. Removed. 5. Cool, cold, haughty, frigid. 
distantialt (dis-tan'shal), a. [< L. distantia, 
distance (see distance, n.), + -aJ.] Remote in 
place; distant.. W. Montague. 
distantly (dis'tant-li), adv. 1. Remotely ; at 
a distance. 2. In entom., sparsely; so that 
the component parts are distant from one an- 
other: as, distantly punctured or spiuose. 3. 
With reserve or haughtiness. 
distastet (dis-tasf), [< da- priv. + taste.'} 
1. trans. 1. To disrelish; dislike; loathe: as, 
to distaste drugs or poisons. 
One distastes 
The scent of roses, which to infinites 
Most pleasing is and odoriferous. 
Middle tun and Rowley, Changeling, i. 1. 
If the multitude diilast wholsome doctrine, shall we to 
humor them abandon it ? 
Milton, On Def. of Ilumb. Remonst. 
2. To offend ; disgust ; vex ; displease ; sour. 
Suitors are so distasted with delays and abuses. 
Bacon, Suitors. 
Honourable and worthy Country men, let not the rnean- 
nesse of the word ti -h dintaste yon, for it will afford as good 
gold as the Mines of Ouiana or Potassie. 
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, II. 253. 
"I'is dull and unnatural to have a Hare run full in the 
Hound's Mouth, and would distaste the keenest Hunter. 
Conyreve, Old Batchelor, iv. 5. 
3. To spoil the taste or relish of ; change to 
the worse ; corrupt. 
Her brain-sick raptures 
Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel 
Which hath our several honours all engag'd 
To make it gracious. Shak., I . and < '. , ii. -.'. 
An envious apoplexy, with which his judgment Is so 
dazzled and distasted that he grows violently impatient 
of any opposite happiness in another. 
jB. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Pref. 
II. intrans. To bo distasteful, nauseous, or 
displeasing. 
Poisons, 
Which, at the first, ore scarce found to distaste. 
Shak., Othello, HI. 3. 
distaste (dis-tasf), " [< distaste, r.] 1. Want 
of taste or liking for something; disrelish; dis- 
gust, or a slight degree of it ; hence, dislike in 
general. 
If one dissent, he shall sit down, without showing any 
further distaste, publicly or privately. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 213. 
On the part of Heaven 
Now alienated, distance and ditiHxtt . 
Milton, P. L., is. 9. 
A positive crime might have been more easily pardoned 
than a symptom of distaste for the foreign comestibles. 
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, vi. 
A certain taste for figures, coupled with a still stronger 
distaste for Latin accidence, directed his inclination and 
his father's choice towards a mercantile career. 
A. 31. Clerke, Astron. in 19th Cent., p. 37. 
2f. Discomfort ; uneasiness ; annoyance. 
Now, brother, I slumlil ehule ; 
But I'll give no dixtattc to your fair mistress. 
i'tuu. and Fl., Scornful Lady, iii. 2. 
1691 
So many gratifications attend this public sort of obscur- 
ity, that some little distastes I daily receive have lost their 
anguish. Steele, Spectator, No. 4. 
3f. That which is distasteful or offends. 
< 'in ear is now too mueh profaned, grave Maro, 
With these distastes, to take thy sacred lines. 
B. Jonsun, Poetaster, v. 1. 
= Syn. 1. Repugnance, disinclination, displeasure, dissat- 
isfiii-tinn. 
distasteful (dis-tast'ful), a. [< distaste + -ful, 
1.] 1. Nauseous ; unpleasant or disgusting to 
the taste ; hence, offensive in general. 
Why sbou'd you pluck the green distasteful fruit 
Kn>m the unwilling bough, 
When It may ripen of itself and fall? 
lifinl.il. Don Sebastian, I1L 1. 
our ordinary mental food has l>ecome distasteful. 
0. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 2. 
2. Indicating distaste, dissatisfaction, or dis- 
like ; repulsive ; malevolent. 
After distasteful looks, . . . and cold-moving Tiods. 
They froze me into silence. Shak., T. of A., iL 2. 
= Syn. 1. Unpalatable, unsavory, disagreeable, 
distastefully (dis-tast'ful-i), adv. In a dis- 
pleasing or offensive manner. Bailey, 1727. 
distastefulness (dis-tast'ful-nes), n. Dis- 
agreeableuess to the taste, in any sense. 
The allaying and qualifying much of the bitter and dis- 
taste/Hint's* of our physick. 
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, II. x. 8 2. 
Distastefulness alone would, however, be of little ser- 
vice to caterpillars, because their soft and juicy bodies 
are so delicate, that if seized and afterwards rejected by 
a bird they would almost certainly be killed. 
A. R. Wallace, Nat. Select., p. 118. 
distastivet (dis-tas'tiv), a. and n. [< distaste 
+ -ice.] I. a. Having distaste or dislike. 
Your vnwilling and distastiue ear. 
Speed, Hen. V., IX. xv. 8 10. 
H. n. That which gives disrelish or aversion. 
Whitlock. 
distasturet (dis-tas'tur), n. [< distaste + -are.] 
The state of being displeased, dissatisfied, or 
vexed. 
This duke (saith Grafton), being an aged man and for- 
tunate before in all his warres, vpon this distasture im- 
Eressed such dolour of minde, that for very griefe thereof 
e liued not long after. 
Speed, Queen Mary, IX. xxiii. 32. 
distemonoua (di-ste'mo-nus), a. [< Gr. <!<-, 
two-, + crijfuM, stamen, + -ous.~\ In hot., hav- 
ing two stamens ; diandrous. 
distemper 1 (dis-tem'per), . [< ME. distem- 
l>eren, < OF. destcmprer = Sp. destemplar = Pg. 
destemperar, disorder, = It. distemperare, dis- 
temprare, stemperare, stemprarc, disorder, dis- 
temper (now chiefly in sense of distemper 2 ), 
< ML. distemperare, derange, disorder, distem- 
per, < L. dis- priv. + temperare ( > OP. tcmprer, 
F. tremper, etc.), temper: see temper. Cf. dis- 
temperV.'] 1. trans. If. To change the temper 
or due proportions of. 
The fourthe is, whan thurgh the gret abundance of his 
mete the humours in his body ben distempered. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
2. To disease ; disorder ; derange the bodily or 
mental functions of. 
This variable composition of man's body hath made it 
as an instrument easy to distemper. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 189. 
You look very ill : something has distempered you, 
B. Jonson, Epiccene, Iv. 2. 
He had abord his vessels aboute 80. lustle men (but 
very unruly), who, after they came ashore, did so distem- 
per them selves with drinke as they became like madd. 
men. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 441. 
But body and soul are distempered when out of tune, 
unmodulated, unbalanced. 
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 290. 
3. To deprive of temper or moderation ; ruffle ; 
disturb. 
Distempre you nought. 
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, L 495. 
Men's spirits were . . . distempered, as I have related, 
and it might have been expected that they would have 
been much divided in their choice. 
.A". Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 272. 
Strange that this Monviedro 
Should have the power so to distemper me. 
Coleridge. 
But the dust of prejudice and passion, which so distem- 
pers the intellectual vision of theologians and politicians, 
is seen to make ... no exception of the perspicacity of 
philologists. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 350. 
Il.t intrans. To become diseased. [Rare.] 
The stones on thi lande is for to drede ; 
Kur thai l>e somer hoote and winter colde, 
That vyue, ainl L'revnr. and tree distempn wolde. 
Palladia*, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 11. 
distemper 1 (<lis-tem'per), n. and a. [< distem- 
/)/!, r.] I. . 1. An unbalanced or unnatural 
temper; want of balance or proportion. 
dlstemperance 
If little faults, proceeding on distemp-r. 
Shall not IM- wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye 
u lien capital crimes, chew d, swallow 'd, anil digested, 
Appear before uV Shut., Hen. V. ii. : 
We read a great deal of the disappointment* of author*. 
and a prevalent dix-triuiter resulting therefrom. 
.V. and (J., 7th ser., III. 481. 
Hence 2. Disease; malady; indisposition; 
any morbid state of an animal body or of any 
part of it : now most commonly applied to the 
diseases of brutes. 
Of no distemper, of no blast he died, 
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long. 
Dryden inul Lee, (Kdipus, Iv. 1. 
The person cured was known to have laboured under 
that distemper some years before our Saviour was born. 
/.'.'. Attertntry, Sermons, II. i. 
Specifically 3. A disease of young dogs, com- 
monly considered as a catarrhal disorder, it Is 
In general characterized by a running from the nose and 
eyes as one of the first and leading symptoms, and is usu* 
ally accompanied by a short dry cough, and succeeded by 
wasting of the flesh and loss of strength and spirits. 
4f. Want of due temperature ; seventy of cli- 
mate or weather. 
Those countries . . . directly under the tropic were of 
a distemper uninhabitable. Jialeigh, Hist World. 
5f. Want of due balance of parts or opposite 
qualities and principles. 
Temper and distemper [of empire] consist of contraries. 
Bacon, Empire. 
6i. Ill humor; bad temper. 
He came, he wrote to the governour, wherein he con- 
fessed his passionate distemper, and declared his meaning 
in those offensive speeches. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 20. 
The said Weston . . . gave such cutting and provoking 
speeches as made the said captain rise up In great indig- 
nation and distemper. 
S. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 100. 
7t. Political disorder; tumult. Waller. 8. 
Uneasiness ; disorder of mind. 
There is a sickness 
Which puts some of us in distemper. 
Shak., W. T., I. 2. 
= Syn. 2. Infirmity, Malady, etc. (see disease), complaint, 
disorder, ailment. 
Il.t Lacking self-restraint ; intemperate. 
Chaucer. 
distemper 2 (dis-tem'per), r. t. [Also written 
destemper; < OF. destemprcr, later destreviper, 
F. detremper, soak, steep, dilute, soften by soak- 
ing in water, = Sp. destemplar = Pg. destemperar 
= It. distemperare, stemperare, dissolve, dilute, 
weaken, < ML. distemperare, dissolve, dilute, 
melt, lit. temper ; being the same word as dis- 
temper^, but with prefix dis- distributive, not 
privative.] To prepare, as a pigment, for use 
in distemper painting. 
Colouring of paper, viz. marbled paper, by distempering 
the colours with ox-gall, and applying them upon a stiff 
gummed liquor. 
Sir W. Pettie, In Sprat's Hist. Royal Soc., p. 288. 
distemper 2 (dis-tem'per), n. [Also written 
destemper; = F. detrempe, distemper, water-col- 
ors, a painting in water-colors ; from the verb.] 
1. A method of painting in which the colors 
are mixed with any binding medium soluble 
in water, such as yolk of egg and an equal 
quantity of water, yolk and white of egg beaten 
together and mixed with an equal quantity of 
milk, fig-tree sap, vinegar, wine, ox-gall, etc. 
Strictly speaking, distemper painting is painting in water- 
color with a vehicle of which yolk of egg is the chief in- 
gredient, upon a surface usually of wood or canvas, cov- 
ered with a ground of chalk or plaster mixed with gum, 
this ground itself being frequently called distemper. See 
distemper-ground. If the glutinous medium is present in 
too great quantity, the colors will si-ale off when the paint- 
ing is exposed to the air, so that they should be applied 
in thin layers and not be retouched until they are perfectly 
dry. 
They glued a linnen cloth upon the wall, and covered 
that with plaister, on which they painted in distemper. 
Walpolf, Anecdotes of Painting, I. 44. 
This mode of painting [tempera], which is undoubtedly 
the most ancient, and which, in trade purposes, is called 
distemper painting, derives its name from the fact that 
the colours are "tempered " or mixed with some liquid or 
medium to bind their separate particles to each other and 
to the surface to which the paint Is to be applied. 
Field's Grammar of Colouring (ed. Davidson), p. 160. 
2. A pigment prepared for painting according 
to this method. 
There has also lately a curious fact been discovered, 
namely, that a couch of distemper which covered the en- 
velope of a mummy, was composed of plaister mixed with 
animal glue. 
W. B. S. Taylor, tr. of M<Srimee's Painting in Oil and 
[Fresco, p. 218. 
Common distemper, a coarse method of painting used 
for walls or other rough or commercial purposes, in which 
the colored pigments are mixed with white, with the addi- 
tion of gum or glue. Distemper colors. See color. 
distemperancet (dis-tem'per-ans), n. K ME. 
deatempraunce, < OF. destempfance = Pr. dea- 
