temperancy

Noun

temperance (countable and uncountable, plural temperances)

1. Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence.
   • temperance in eating and drinking
2. Moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to using intoxicating liquors.
   • Another error, as it seems to me, into which the old reformers fell, was the position that all habitual drunkards were utterly incorrigible, and therefore must be turned adrift and damned without remedy in order that the grace of temperance might abound, to the temperate then, and to all mankind...1842 February 22, Abraham Lincoln, “Address Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society”, in Arthur Brooks Lapsley, editor, The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln
3. Moderation of passion; calmness.
   • […] in the verie Torrent, Tempeſt, and (as I may ſay) the Whirle-winde of Paſſion, you muſt acquire and beget a Temperance that may giue it Smoothneſſe.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

   Synonyms:

   patience, calmness, sedateness

4. (obsolete) State with regard to heat or cold; temperature.
   • It [the climate] must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...

See all 6 meanings of temperance