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Distemper vs. Varnish — What's the Difference?

Distemper vs. Varnish — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Distemper and Varnish

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Distemper

Canine distemper.

Varnish

Varnish is a clear transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not a stain.

Distemper

Feline panleukopenia.

Varnish

Resin dissolved in a liquid for applying on wood, metal, or other materials to form a hard, clear, shiny surface when dry
The wood was stained with a dark varnish
Several coats of varnish

Distemper

An illness or disease; an ailment
"He died ... of a broken heart, a distemper which kills many more than is generally imagined" (Henry Fielding).
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Varnish

Apply varnish to
We stripped the floor and varnished it
Her toenails were varnished red

Distemper

Ill humor; testiness.

Varnish

A liquid that contains a solvent and an oxidizing or evaporating binder and is applied to a surface to produce a hard, transparent finish after evaporation and curing.

Distemper

Disorder or disturbance, especially of a social or political nature.

Varnish

The smooth coating or gloss resulting from the application of this liquid
Wear dulled the floor's varnish.

Distemper

A process of painting in which pigments are mixed with water and a glue-size or casein binder, used for flat wall decoration or scenic and poster painting.

Varnish

Something suggestive of or resembling varnish.

Distemper

The paint used in this process.

Varnish

An often deceptive external appearance or outward show
"people through whom a native stupidity shines forth past any varnish of education or acculturation" (Ira Sher).

Distemper

A painting made by this process.

Varnish

To cover with varnish.

Distemper

To put out of order.

Varnish

To give a smooth and glossy finish to.

Distemper

(Archaic) To unsettle; derange.

Varnish

To give a superficial or deceptive appearance to
Varnish the truth.

Distemper

To mix (powdered pigments or colors) with water and size.

Varnish

A type of paint with a solvent that evaporates to leave a hard, transparent, glossy film.

Distemper

To paint (a work) in distemper.

Varnish

Anything resembling such a paint; glossy appearance.

Distemper

A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.

Varnish

(by extension) A deceptively showy appearance.

Distemper

(archaic) A disorder of the humours of the body; a disease.

Varnish

A passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.

Distemper

A glue-based paint.

Varnish

(intransitive) To apply varnish.

Distemper

(countable) A painting produced with this kind of paint.

Varnish

(transitive) To cover up with varnish.

Distemper

To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.

Varnish

(transitive) To make something superficially or deceptively attractive
Varnish the report

Distemper

To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.

Varnish

(transitive) To gloss over a defect.

Distemper

To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humoured, or malignant.

Varnish

A viscid liquid, consisting of a solution of resinous matter in an oil or a volatile liquid, laid on work with a brush, or otherwise. When applied the varnish soon dries, either by evaporation or chemical action, and the resinous part forms thus a smooth, hard surface, with a beautiful gloss, capable of resisting, to a greater or less degree, the influences of air and moisture.

Distemper

To intoxicate.

Varnish

That which resembles varnish, either naturally or artificially; a glossy appearance.
The varnish of the holly and ivy.

Distemper

To paint using distemper.

Varnish

An artificial covering to give a fair appearance to any act or conduct; outside show; gloss.
And set a double varnish on the fameThe Frenchman gave you.

Distemper

To mix (colours) in the way of distemper.
To distemper colors with size

Varnish

To lay varnish on; to cover with a liquid which produces, when dry, a hard, glossy surface; as, to varnish a table; to varnish a painting.

Distemper

To temper or mix unduly; to make disproportionate; to change the due proportions of.
When . . . the humors in his body ben distempered.

Varnish

To cover or conceal with something that gives a fair appearance; to give a fair coloring to by words; to gloss over; to palliate; as, to varnish guilt.
Close ambition, varnished o'er with zeal.
Cato's voice was ne'er employedTo clear the guilty and to varnish crimes.

Distemper

To derange the functions of, whether bodily, mental, or spiritual; to disorder; to disease.
The imagination, when completely distempered, is the most incurable of all disordered faculties.

Varnish

Paint that provides a hard glossy transparent coating

Distemper

To deprive of temper or moderation; to disturb; to ruffle; to make disaffected, ill-humored, or malignant.

Varnish

Cover with varnish

Distemper

To intoxicate.
The courtiers reeling,And the duke himself, I dare not say distempered,But kind, and in his tottering chair carousing.

Distemper

To mix (colors) in the way of distemper; as, to distemper colors with size.

Distemper

An undue or unnatural temper, or disproportionate mixture of parts.

Distemper

Severity of climate; extreme weather, whether hot or cold.
Those countries . . . under the tropic, were of a distemper uninhabitable.

Distemper

A morbid state of the animal system; indisposition; malady; disorder; - at present chiefly applied to diseases of brutes; as, a distemper in dogs; the horse distemper; the horn distemper in cattle.
They heighten distempers to diseases.

Distemper

Morbid temper of the mind; undue predominance of a passion or appetite; mental derangement; bad temper; ill humor.
Little faults proceeding on distemper.
Some frenzy distemper had got into his head.

Distemper

Political disorder; tumult.

Distemper

A preparation of opaque or body colors, in which the pigments are tempered or diluted with weak glue or size (cf. Tempera) instead of oil, usually for scene painting, or for walls and ceilings of rooms.

Distemper

Any of various infectious viral diseases of animals

Distemper

An angry and disagreeable mood

Distemper

Paint made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder

Distemper

A painting created by distemper

Distemper

A method of painting in which the pigments are mixed with water and a binder; used for painting posters or murals or stage scenery

Distemper

Paint with distemper

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