n. [ OF. tempeste, F. tempête, (assumed) LL. tempesta, fr. L. tempestas a portion of time, a season, weather, storm, akin to tempus time. See Temporal of time. ] 1. An extensive current of wind, rushing with great velocity and violence, and commonly attended with rain, hail, or snow; a furious storm. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ We ] caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
Each on his rock transfixed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Any violent tumult or commotion; as, a political tempest; a tempest of war, or of the passions. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A fashionable assembly; a drum. See the Note under Drum, n., 4. [ Archaic ] Smollett. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Tempest is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, tempest-beaten, tempest-loving, tempest-tossed, tempest-winged, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Storm; agitation; perturbation. See Storm. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Cf. OF. tempester, F. tempêter to rage. ] To disturb as by a tempest. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Part huge of bulk
Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait,
Tempest the ocean. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To storm. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tempestivus. ] Seasonable; timely; as, tempestive showers. [ Obs. ] Heywood. -- Tem*pes"tive*ly, adv. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

n. [ L. tempestivitas. ] The quality, or state, of being tempestive; seasonableness. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. tempestuous: cf. OF. tempestueux, F. tempêtueux. ] Of or pertaining to a tempest; involving or resembling a tempest; turbulent; violent; stormy; as, tempestuous weather; a tempestuous night; a tempestuous debate. -- Tem*pes"tu*ous*ly, adv. -- Tem*pes"tu*ous*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

They saw the Hebrew leader,
Waiting, and clutching his tempestuous beard. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]