To exercise power or self-control.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is TEMPERATE in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ( 1 Corinthians 1:1 Galatians 9:24-25 )

Dictionary of Words from the King James Bible. Public Domain. Copy freely.