temporaladj.1n.1
/ˈtɛmpərəl/ A. adj.1† 4. Applied to ‘artificial hours’, i.e. twelfths of an ‘artificial day’: see artificial adj. and n. Compounds 2. Obsolete. rare.
1. Lasting or existing only for a time; passing, temporary. Now rare or merged in A. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xiii. 21 He hath nat roote in hym self, but it is temporal; that is, it lastith bot a litil tyme.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. iv. 18 Sothli tho thingis that ben seyn, ben temperal, or duryng by short tyme.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 404 A temporall beauty of the lampfull skies [i.e. a rainbow].
1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. I. 49 Others begin to run in spring,..and cease again towards autumn, and are called temporal Springs.
1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey (1886) 127 What seems a kind of temporal death to people choked between walls..is only a..living slumber to the man who sleeps a-field.
2. Of or pertaining to time as the sphere of human life; terrestrial as opposed to heavenly; of man's present life as distinguished from a future existence; concerning or involving merely the material interests of this world; worldly, earthly. (Opposed to eternal or spiritual.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > [adjective]
earthlyOE
netherOE
lowc1225
terrene13..
terrestre1340
temporalc1380
earthyc1429
terrestrialc1460
inferial?a1475
mundanec1475
mundial1499
earthish?1533
terrenala1555
terreal1598
terrestrene1599
sublunary1609
sublunar1610
mundal1614
temporarya1616
earth-born1626
terranean1653
circumterraneous1678
subcelestial1706
terraneousa1711
terrean1714
terrigenal1744
subastral1752
geotic1755
tellurian1786
worldly1812
telluric1813
transglobal1953
the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > [adjective] > material or not spiritual
fleshlyc1175
bodilya1340
temporalc1380
worldyc1380
claylya1400
elementaryc1440
mondiala1500
gross1509
fleshly-wise1542
elemental1574
outward1574
natural1581
terrestrene1599
elementated1605
sublunary1609
temporarya1616
subluminary1625
sublunar1625
outwardlya1642
material1843
intramundane1845
unethereal1861
naturistic1886
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective] > temporal or not spiritual
temporalc1380
secular1597
sublunary1609
temporarya1616
sublunarian1852
earthside1951
c1380 J. Wyclif Wks. (1880) 5 Temperal almes.
c1400 Rom. Rose 7066 So that the tour were stuffed wel With alle richesse temporel.
c1480 (a1400) St. Thomas Apostle 315 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 138 Þat þai..ȝarnis til hafe na temporale gud, ovtane anerly clath & fud.
?1533 G. Du Wes Introductorie for to lerne Frenche sig. Uiv v The lytell goodes temporals that it hath pleased to god to sende me.
1685 R. Baxter Paraphr. New Test. Mark ii. 15 He would not set up a temporal Kingdom.
1772 J. Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 306 The Jews..expected..a temporal prince.
1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds vii. 91 Fear for the temporal prosperity of the whole race.
3. Secular as opposed to sacred; lay as distinguished from clerical. Of law: civil or common as distinguished from canon. Of rule, authority, or government: civil as distinguished from ecclesiastical. Lords Temporal: cf. lord n. 11a. (Opposed to spiritual.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > [adjective]
lewdc890
worldlyOE
of the world?c1225
secularc1290
layc1330
temporalc1340
borel1377
common?c1400
profane1474
laic1562
layit1563
laical1570
non-ecclesiastical1630
mundane1848
c1340 R. Rolle Prose Treat. 24 Itt longith to som temporalle men the which han soueraynte.
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) v. 43 He was Lord Spirituelle & Temporelle.
c1440 Brut 468 Þe King..borowed a somme of gold þurghout þe Reame, of temporall peple, þat amounted a c. Ml marc of money, to sende his peple ouer the see.
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Augustine (1910) 27 Ambrose had..mad neuly many ympnys, for all þe temporal ympnys ar ny of his making, as Primo dierum omnium, & þoo þat folow.
?1579 in F. Collins Wills & Admin. Knaresborough Court Rolls (1902) I. 130 And after come to practice as a temporall Lawyer.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iv. i. 187 His scepter showes the force of temporall power, the attribut to awe and maiestie. View more context for this quotation
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Anat. Ireland (1691) 36 The Government of Ireland is by the King, 21 Bishops..and the Temporal Peers.
1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 149 A charter erecting the lands belonging to the abbacy into a temporal lordship.
1898 C. H. Bowden Simple Dict. for Catholics Temporal Power of the Pope.—1. His right to possess and govern the Patrimony of St. Peter and other States of the Church; 2. His rights as Vicar of Christ in relation to other sovereigns and states.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > hour > [adjective] > of artificial hours
temporal1594
temporarya1656
1594 T. Blundeville Exercises iii. i. lii. f. 176 Note also that the vnequall houres are called sometime artificiall and sometime temporall houres.
5.
a. Grammar and Prosody. Relating to or depending on the quantity of syllables (i.e. the time taken in pronouncing them). temporal augment (Greek Grammar): see augment n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > rhythm > [adjective] > quantitative
temporal1678
quantitative1798
1678 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Temporal Augment, an Augmentation which is made in a Greek Verb, by increasing in several Tenses, the quantity of the first Vowel or Dipthong, as ἄγω ἦγον.
1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. 540 The ancient temporal metres were inexhaustible, because the permutations and combinations of the prosodical feet were infinite.
1863 tr. G. Curtius Greek Gram. §235 The Temporal Augment is used in all verbs which begin with a vowel.
b. Grammar. Of or pertaining to the tenses of a verb; of tense; also, expressing or denoting time, as an adverb, a clause, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > tense > [adjective]
chronical1530
temporal1805
1805 J. H. Tooke Επεα Πτεροεντα (ed. 2) II. vii. 467 Our language has made but small progress, compared either with the Greek or with the Latin..even in this Modal and Temporal abbreviation.
1886 W. G. Hale in Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 7 459 The tenseless phrase in order to, used alike for present and past purposes in English, fails to convey the temporal ideas conveyed by the Latin present and imperfect subjunctive.
1889 W. G. Hale in Amer. Jrnl. Philol. X. 334 In Latin all the uses of the ablative absolute sprang from the temporal use of the ablative.
6. In general sense: Of, pertaining, or relating to time, the present time, or a particular time.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > [adjective]
chronic1604
chronical1647
temporaneous1656
timewarda1850
chronal1875
temporal1877
the world > time > particular time > [adjective]
temporal1877
1877 W. H. Mallock New Republic II. iii. ii. 15 Merely temporal people, who are just as narrow-minded and dull as..merely local people—the natives of a neighbourhood.
1886 A. Weir Hist. Basis Mod. Europe (1889) 481 A vast quantity of temporal and spatial experience.
1906 D. W. Forrest Authority of Christ vi. i. 309 In speaking of the last day we are using a temporal expression for an unspeakable and timeless reality.
B. n.1
1.
a. That which is temporal: esp. in plural. Temporal things or matters.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > church government > laity > [noun] > concerns of
temporal1390
civils1644
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [noun] > the present (temporal) state > earthly or temporal things
worldOE
temporal1390
earthside1854
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 32 Noght only of the temporal But of the spirital also.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis I. 276 To day is venym schad In holi cherche of temporal, Which medleth with the spirital.
1471 J. Fortescue Wks. (1869) 534 In his persone and his kingdome, which bothe be temporales onely.
1625 C. Burges New Discouery Personal Tithes 16 Hee that partakes of Gods blessing in Temporals.
1755 E. Young Centaur iv Joy from temporals, is a terrestrial joy, And, like all things terrestrial, has a dreg in it.
1897 H. Drummond Ideal Life 140 Trying by some other way than through these homely temporals, to learn the spiritual life.
b. Temporal power, possession, or estate; temporality n.; chiefly in plural = temporalities.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > possessions > [noun] > worldly or secular property
temporalty1377
temporalitiesc1475
world's wrack?a1513
temporala1525
wreck1562
temporaries1596
worldhood1841
society > faith > artefacts > property > [noun]
temporalty1396
spiritualtyc1400
spirituality1468
temporalitiesc1475
temporala1525
sanctimoniesa1547
Guardian of the Spiritualties (also Spiritualty)1562
temporaries1596
guaca1604
sanctities1815
sacra1819
spiritual1827
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 277 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 103 That sen It nechit natur yar alleris mastriss Thai couth nocht trete but entent of ye temporale.
?1542 H. Brinkelow Complaynt Roderyck Mors xxii. sig. F3 Of their temporals, let .viij. or .x. pound and not aboue of euery hundreth, be granted to the kyng.
1594 R. Ashley tr. L. le Roy Interchangeable Course iv. f. 54v The Pope commaundeth ouer the temporall of the Church called S. Peters patrimonie, as King.
1794 tr. A. Barruel Hist. Clergy during French Revol. ii. 5 They did not reject the new French constitution, or the laws concerning temporals.
1863 W. Blyth Hist. Notices Fincham 39 The temporals were such lands or other property as may have accrued to the church by gift or purchase, and belonged chiefly to the regular or monastic clergy.
1880 R. Browning Pietro in Dramatic Idyls 362 I'll to Rome, before Rome's feet the temporal-supreme lay prostrate!
2. (Also in Latin form temporale n. /tɛmpɒˈreɪliː//-ɑːleɪ/.) That part of the breviary and missal which contains the daily offices in the order of the ecclesiastical year, as distinct from those proper for Saints' days: cf. sanctorale n.
/tɛmpɒˈreɪliː//-ɑːleɪ/.) That part of the breviary and missal which contains the daily offices in the order of the ecclesiastical year, as distinct from those proper for Saints' days: cf. sanctorale n.ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > book (general) > breviary or office book > [noun] > part of, for ecclesiastical year
temporal14..
temporale1483
14.. Table Lessons, etc. in Wyclif's Bible IV. 690 Here endith the Temperal, and here bigynneth the Propre Sanctorum.
1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 63/2 This is the Rewle of the temporal thurgh the yere.
?a1500 Nominale (Yale Beinecke 594) in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 755/21 Hoc temperalium, a temperal.
1517 in Archaeologia (1908) 61 83 Item a legend hoole of the temporall... Item a legend hoole of the Sanctorum.
1872 O. Shipley Gloss. Eccl. Terms at Temporale The temporale..as opposed to the sanctorale..which treats of the Saints' days.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
temporaladj.2n.2
/ˈtɛmpərəl/ Anatomy.
A. adj.2
Of, belonging to, or situated in the temples: esp. in names of structures, as temporal artery, temporal bone, temporal muscle, temporal vein, etc. temporal canals, small passages for vessels and nerves through the malar bone to the temporal surface; temporal lobe, the lowest lobe of the brain lying below the Sylvian fissure; temporal fossa, that in which the temporal muscle originates.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > forehead > [adjective] > parts of
temporal1598
crotaphic1653
crotaphite1653
supertemporal1834
crotaphitic1836–9
oculofrontal1890
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 29 b/1 The thirde is called the temporall, or vayne of the temples, which in divers branches ascendeth in the temples of the heade.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. 11/2 We should not hurte the temporalle muscle.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iii. 327 Copious Bleeding, by opening the temporal Arteries.
1842 E. Wilson Anatomist's Vade Mecum (ed. 2) 23 The Temporal Bone is..divisible into a squamous, mastoid, and petrous portion.
1854 H. Spencer Personal Beauty in Ess. (1891) II. 390 The chief agents in closing the jaws are the temporal muscles.
B. n.2
Elliptical for temporal artery, temporal bone, temporal muscle at sense A., etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > muscles of specific parts > [noun] > muscles of cheek or temple
temporal?1541
trumpeter's muscle1615
crotaphite1653
buccinator1657
zygomatic1811
grief-muscles1872
the world > life > the body > vascular system > blood vessel > artery > [noun] > specific artery
arterial vein?c1425
adorthy1525
subethal1525
temporal?1541
veiny artery1543
share artery1545
aorta1594
cephalic artery1599
subclavia1615
venous artery1650
subclavicular1656
pulmonary1707
cœliac artery or axis1713
renal1721
radial1723
carotid1741
ranine1753
femoral1754
hypogastric1774
iliac1782
pudical1803
articular1808
pudic1824
anonyma1832
internal mammary1835–6
iliac artery1840
transverse artery1842
innominate artery1866
innominate1879
thyroid axis1881
hyoid1883
medicerebral1889
coronary1893
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > skull > parts of skull > [noun] > bones of temple
squamous bone?1541
temporal?1541
shaft1552
vaginal process1726
mastoid process1732
supertemporal1834
mastoid1840
stylohyal1846
squamosal1848
squamosal bone1849
tympanohyal1873
?1541 R. Copland Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens ii. sig. Fj Those [muscles] are called tymporalles, and are ryght noble and very sensyble, & therfore theyr hurt is very peryllous.
1739 J. Sparrow tr. H. F. Le Dran Observ. Surg. i. 8 The Temporal became ossified.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 228 The muscles of mastication—the masseters, temporals, and pterygoids.
1900 J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. XI. No. 41. 23 The old woman's temporals were scarcely, if at all, enlarged.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adj.1n.1c1340
adj.2n.2?1541