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.
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            [We] caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled,
            Each on his rock transfixed.          --Milton.
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   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.
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   Syn: Storm; agitation; perturbation. See Storm.
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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.]
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         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.
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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"