tempering

English

Verb

tempering

1. present participle and gerund of temper

Noun

tempering (plural temperings)

1. The act by which something is tempered.
   • 1872, Louis Emmanuel Gruner, The Manufacture of Steel, page 29:

     Caron has, in fact, discovered this very curious circumstance, that a bar of steel becomes shorter under successive temperings, while it increases in size, laterally, in such a manner, that there actually is an increase of volume.

2. (pottery, architecture) A non-plastic material, such as sand, added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying or firing; temper.
   • 1983, Barry Cunliffe, chapter 6, in Danebury Hillfort, Stroud: Tempus:

     Clay and tempering were packed around the pole together with plenty of water[.]

Coordinate terms

• annealing

Further reading

• Tempering (metallurgy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tempering (spices) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Temper (pottery) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• repigment