temperature: [16] Like its relatives temper and temperament, temperature originally meant ‘mixture’ (Philemon Holland in 1601 wrote of ‘a temperature of brass and iron together’). The modern sense ‘degree of heat’ emerged in the late 17th century, and seems to have evolved from another early and now obsolete sense, ‘mild weather’. This reflected the ‘restraint’ strand of meaning in the word’s ultimate source, Latin temperāre, which also survives in English temperance and temperate. => temper
temperature (n.)
mid-15c., "fact of being tempered, proper proportion;" 1530s, "character or nature of a substance," from Latin temperatura "a tempering, moderation," from temperatus, past participle of temperare "to be moderate; to mingle in due proportion" (see temper (v.)). Sense of "degree of heat or cold" first recorded 1670 (Boyle), from Latin temperatura, used in this sense by Galileo. Meaning "fever, high temperature" is attested from 1898.
双语例句
1. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut in squares.
等蛋糕温热或凉至室温时切成四方块端上桌。
来自柯林斯例句
2. She was admitted to hospital with a soaring temperature.
她因发高烧被送进医院。
来自柯林斯例句
3. If your child's temperature rises, sponge her down gently with tepid water.
如果你孩子的体温上升，就用海绵蘸上温水轻轻地擦拭她的身体。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The temperature in the south will soar into the hundreds.
南方的温度会上升到一百多度。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The star's surface temperature is reckoned to be minus 75 degrees Celsius.