tempering

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The process of giving to any metal the desired hardness and elasticity. See temper, 9. Also called annealing.
• noun In music, the act, process, or result of tuning an instrument, scale, or interval in accordance with some other temperament than just or pure temperament, especially with equal temperament. See temperament, 5.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Metal.) The process of giving the requisite degree of hardness or softness to a substance, as iron and steel; especially, the process of giving to steel the degree of hardness required for various purposes, consisting usually in first plunging the article, when heated to redness, in cold water or other liquid, to give an excess of hardness, and then reheating it gradually until the hardness is reduced or drawn down to the degree required, as indicated by the color produced on a polished portion, or by the burning of oil.
• noun the shade of color that indicates the degree of temper in tempering steel, as pale straw yellow for lancets, razors, and tools for metal; dark straw yellow for penknives, screw taps, etc.; brown yellow for axes, chisels, and plane irons; yellow tinged with purple for table knives and shears; purple for swords and watch springs; blue for springs and saws; and very pale blue tinged with green, too soft for steel instruments.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• verb Present participle of temper.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• adjective moderating by making more temperate
• noun hardening something by heat treatment