distemper

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
distemper1 /dɪˈstɛmpə/

▶noun a kind of paint having a base of glue or size instead of oil, used on walls.

■ a method of mural and poster painting using this.

▶verb (often as adj. distempered) paint with distemper.

– origin ME (orig. as a verb in the senses ‘dilute’ and ‘steep’): from OFr. destremper or late L. distemperare ‘soak’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
distemper2 /dɪˈstɛmpə/

▶noun

• 1 a viral disease of some animals, especially dogs, causing fever, coughing, and catarrh.

• 2 archaic political disorder.

– origin C16 (orig. in the sense ‘bad temper’, later ‘illness’): from ME distemper ‘upset, derange’, from late L. distemperare ‘soak, mix in the wrong proportions’.