Definition of "temperate"

Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, page vii

She is not hot, but temperate as the morn.

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

That sober freedom out of which there springs Our loyal passion for our temperate kings.

1855, Alfred Tennyson, “(please specify the page number(s))”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […]

Be sober and temperate, and you will be healthy.

August 9, 1768, Benjamin Franklin, To John Alleyne, Esq. On Early Marriages

I am a temperate man and have made it a rule not to drink before luncheon. But I was so much ashamed of my first feeling about Gorman that I thought it well to break my rule. […] I gave my vote for whisky and soda as the more thorough-going drink of the two. A cocktail is seldom more than a mouthful.

1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, pages 14–15

The temperate sleeps, and spirits light as air.

1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]

It inflames temperance, and temp'rates wrath.

1613, John Marston, The Insatiate Countess