1651 T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. vii. 113 Most men grant, that a Government ought not to be divided, but they would have it moderated, and bounded by some limits... If these men, when they speak of moderating, and limiting, do understand dividing it, they make a very fond distinction.

1699 T. D'Urfey Famous Hist. Rise & Fall Massaniello (1700) ii. i. i. 3 Such Injuries are past all Moderating.

1784 B. Franklin Autobiogr. ii, in Writings (1987) 1384 Temperance..was by some confin'd to Eating & Drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other Pleasure, Appetite, [etc.].

1860 D. Benedict Fifty Years among Baptists 144 While our creed, like the thirty-nine Articles, remains the same, this moderating still goes on.

1887 New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) July 53 Those [things] which are not seen are new principles of business life, and the moderating of the cruder forms of self-seeking.

1996 Observer 31 Mar. 16/3 This moderating of mad cow fears among scientists had had little effect on the nation's meat industry.

1963 Exam. Bull. (Secondary School Exam. Council) 1 19/2 Local education authority organisers or advisers... Their experience of teaching, and the close touch which they maintain with subject teachers, make them exceptionally well qualified to undertake moderating duties.

1985 GCSE National Criteria: Gen. Criteria (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) 6/1 The scrutinising, monitoring and moderating responsibilities must be exercised throughout the examining process.

1583 P. Barrough Methode of Phisicke v. xvi. 238 It is farre better..(saith Galene) when you see the colour of the affected member altered, to passe ouer from refrigerating and moderating helpes vnto their contraries.

1642 Sir T. Browne Religio Medici (new ed.) 151 It [sc. sleep] is..a death whereby we live a middle and moderating point betweene life and death.

1673 R. Leigh Transproser Rehears'd 22 Alack, Alack, said I, that was upon the moderating part.

1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 10 Acting for the future upon a moderating Scheme, in order to reconcile both Parties.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall II. xxi. 260 He addressed to the contending parties..a moderating epistle.

1823 W. Scott St. Ronan's Well I. iii. 71 Many other acts of moderating authority they performed, much to the assuaging of faction.

1887 Athenæum 26 Nov. 705/3 His moderating influence was especially valuable.

1947 Cape Argus 29 Mar. 6 Many English-speaking South Africans regarded him as a man wielding a moderating influence upon racial politics.

1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iii. 113 Among both Lombards and Anglo-Saxons the moderating influence of the Church..pointed the way to an appreciation of all the circumstances of the injury.

1947 Nucleonics Dec. 22/1 Deuterium (H²) and beryllium (Be⁹) are among the few moderating elements suitable for thermal reactors.

1988 Trans. Amer. Nuclear Soc. 56 561/1 A cold neutron source or moderating region is used to bring the neutrons into thermal equilibrium with a moderating material at low temperature.