| temperate | 1. Moderate; not excessive; as, temperate heat; a temperate climate. 2. Not marked with passion; not violent; cool; calm; as, temperate language. "She is not hot, but temperate as the morn." (Shak) "That sober freedom out of which there springs Our loyal passion for our temperate kings." (Tennyson) 3. Moderate in the indulgence of the natural appetites or passions; as, temperate in eating and drinking. "Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy." (Franklin) 4. Proceeding from temperance. "The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air. <geography>" (Pope) Temperate zone, that part of the earth which lies between either tropic and the corresponding polar circle; so called because the heat is less than in the torrid zone, and the cold less than in the frigid zones. Synonym: Abstemious, sober, calm, cool, sedate. Origin: L. Temperatus, p.p. Of temperare. See Temper. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| temperate bacteriophage | Bacteriophage whose genome incorporates with, and replicates with, that of the host bacterium; dissociation (and resultant development of vegetative bacteriophage) occurs at a slow rate resulting occasionally in lysis of a bacterium and release of mature bacteriophage, thus rendering the bacterial culture capable of inducing general lysis if transferred to a culture of a susceptible bacterial strain. (05 Mar 2000) |
| temperate phage | A bacteriophage that integrates its DNA into that of the host (lysogeny) as opposed to virulent phages that lyse the host. (18 Nov 1997) |
| temperate virus | <virology> A virus which, upon infection of a host, does not necessarily cause lysis but whose genome may replicate in synchrony with that of the host. See: lysogen. (09 Oct 1997) |