Definition of "distempered" [distempered]

• Simple past tense and past participle of distemper. (verb)
• Affected with or suffering from distemper; diseased. (adjective)

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• "The latter comprised three cooks to the gangs, one of whom had lost a hand; a groom, three hog tenders, of whom one was ruptured, another "distempered" and the third a ten-year-old boy, and ten aged idlers including Quashy Prapra and Abba's Moll to mend pads, Yellow's Cuba and"
• "There were wall bookcases with glass doors, a few oak-framed engravings with a pale-green, "distempered" background, several chintz-covered sofas with cushions, and plenty of easy chairs."
• "It lay there in a wide distempered circle and then gathered itself together to jam at my feet and to giggle and to whee, and to laugh and to fall again into a puddle and to flatten out like pancake batter on a griddle...flat, but gelatin like, to pull in and regroup and to come at me again."