The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tempest \Tem"pest\, n. [OF. tempeste, F. temp[^e]te, (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.
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   3. A fashionable assembly; a drum. See the Note under Drum,
      n., 4. [Archaic] --Smollett.
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   Note: 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]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tempest \Tem"pest\, v. t. [Cf. OF. tempester, F. temp[^e]ter 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.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Tempest \Tem"pest\, v. i.
   To storm. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.
   [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

tempest
    n 1: a violent commotion or disturbance; "the storms that had
         characterized their relationship had died away"; "it was
         only a tempest in a teapot" [syn: storm, tempest]
    2: (literary) a violent wind; "a tempest swept over the island"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

70 Moby Thesaurus words for "tempest":
   agitation, black squall, blaze, blizzard, blow, brouhaha, burst,
   chaos, commotion, convulsion, cyclone, dirty weather, disorder,
   disruption, disturbance, equinoctial, eruption, explosion, ferment,
   fit, flare-up, foul weather, gale, gust, half a gale, heavy blow,
   hurly-burly, hurricane, ill wind, irruption, line squall,
   line storm, outbreak, outburst, paroxysm, perturbation, rainstorm,
   riot, rough weather, seizure, snowstorm, spasm, squall,
   squall line, storm, storm wind, stormy weather, stormy winds,
   strong wind, tempestuous rage, tempestuous wind, thick squall,
   thundersquall, thunderstorm, tornado, tropical cyclone, tumult,
   turbulence, typhoon, ugly wind, unrest, upheaval, uproar,
   violent blow, whirlwind, white squall, whole gale, williwaw,
   wind-shift line, windstorm