Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Moderate

Moderate , adjective

[Latin moderatus, past participle of moderate, moderati, to moderate, regulate, control, from modus measure. See Mode.]

Kept within due bounds; observing reasonable limits; not excessive, extreme, violent, or rigorous; limited; restrained
(a)
Limited in quantity; sparing; temperate; frugal; as, moderate in eating or drinking; a moderate table.
(b)
Limited in degree of activity, energy, or excitement; reasonable; calm; slow; as, moderate language; moderate endeavors.
(c)
Not extreme in opinion, in partisanship, and the like; as, a moderate Calvinist; a moderate Republican.
A number of moderate members managed... to obtain a majority in a thin house. — Swift
(d)
Not violent or rigorous; temperate; mild; gentle; as, a moderate winter.
(e)
Limited as to degree of progress; as, to travel at moderate speed.
(f)
Limited as to the degree in which a quality, principle, or faculty appears; as, an infusion of moderate strength; a man of moderate abilities.
(g)
Limited in scope or effects; as, a reformation of a moderate kind. — Hooker
Moderate showers. — Walter

Moderate , noun

(Ecclesiastical Hist.) One of a party in the Church of Scotland in the 18th century, and part of the 19th, professing moderation in matters of church government, in discipline, and in doctrine.

Moderate , transitive verb

1.
To restrain from excess of any kind; to reduce from a state of violence, intensity, or excess; to keep within bounds; to make temperate; to lessen; to allay; to repress; to temper; to qualify; as, to moderate rage, action, desires, etc.; to moderate heat or wind.
By its astringent quality, it moderates the relaxing quality of warm water. — Arbuthnot
To moderate stiff minds disposed to strive. — Spenser
2.
To preside over, direct, or regulate, as a public meeting or a discussion; as, to moderate a synod; to moderate a debate.

Moderate , intransitive verb

1.
To become less violent, severe, rigorous, or intense; as, the wind has moderated.
2.
To preside as a moderator.
Dr. Barlow [was] engaged... to moderate for him in the divinity disputation. — Bp. Barlow's Remains (1693)