summer

noun, verb, adj — 9 senses

summer

noun

UK /ˈsʌmə/ · US /ˈsʌmɚ/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *s(e)m-eh₂- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-h₂-ór-o-der. Proto-Germanic *sumaraz Proto-West Germanic *sumar Old English sumor Middle English somer English summer From Middle English somer, sumer, from Old English sumor m, from Proto-West Germanic *sumar m, from Proto-Germanic *sumaraz m, derived from Proto-Indo-European *semh₂- (“summer”). Cognates Cognate with Scots somer, sumer, simer, West Frisian simmer, Saterland Frisian Suumer, Dutch zomer, Low German Sommer, German Sommer, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål sommer, Swedish sommar, Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic sumar; Welsh haf, Armenian ամ (am, “year”), ամառ (amaṙ, “summer”), Sanskrit समा (sámā, “a half-year, season, weather, year”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨 (ham-), Middle Persian ḥʾmyn (hāmīn), Northern Kurdish havîn, Central Kurdish ھاوین (hawîn).

1

One of four seasons, traditionally the second, marked by the longest and typically hottest days of the year due to the inclination of the Earth and thermal lag. Typically regarded as spanning either the period between the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox, or the months of June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere and the months of December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.

  • the heat of summer
  • Gradually, the end of summer hove into sight.
4 more examples
  • I'm going to the Gambia in the summer.
  • At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
  • A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
  • A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed. ¶ ‘Civilized,’ he said to Mr. Campion. ‘Humanizing.’[…]‘Cigars and summer days and women in big hats with swansdown face-powder, that's what it reminds me of.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2

Humorous, Poetic year; used to give the age of a person, usually a young one.

  • He was barely eighteen summers old.
  • She had seen not more than twenty summers.
3

Figuratively Most flourishing, happy, or beautiful period; golden age, prime.

  • O! craving heart, for the lost flowers And sunshine of my summer hours!1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
  • Here we are in our summer years / Livin' on ice cream and chocolate kisses / Would the leaves fall from the trees / If I was your old man and you was my missus1986, Billy Bragg, “Greetings to the New Brunette”, in Talking with the Taxman About Poetry, track 1:
4

Fashion, Lifestyle Someone with light, pinkish skin that has a blue undertone, light hair and eyes, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.

Antonyms
winter
Derived terms
278 termsaftersummer, All-Hallown Summer, apple summer disease, boys of summer, dog days of summer, double summer time, farewell-summer, foresummer, go-summer, Great Summer Army, have but a mile to midsummer, high summer, hot girl summer, Hutchinson's summer prurigo, summer prurigo of Hutchinson, Indian summer, Israel Summer Time, little summer of St Luke, little summer of St. Luke, Martinmas summer, midsummer, net summer capability, nonsummer, nuclear summer, old wives' summer, one swallow does not a summer make, one swallow does not make a summer, one swallow doesn't a summer make, one swallow doesn't make a summer, oversummer, polar mesospheric summer echoes, presummer, Red Summer, Revolution Summer, Russian spring-summer encephalitis, Saint Luke's little summer, Saint Luke's summer, St Luke's little summer, St Luke's summer, Saint Martin's summer, St Martin's summer, snow-in-summer, song of the summer, sprummer, St. Luke's summer, St. Martin's summer, summer-ale, summer and winter, summer annual, Summer Archbishop's Palace, Summer Archiepiscopal Palace, summer associate, summer asthma, summer-barm, summer bird, summer bleeding, summer-blink, summer blues, summer boarder, summer branch drop, summer break, summer-broach, summer camp, summer camper, summer capital, Summer Capital of the Philippines, summer catarrh, summercater, summer cholera, summer-cloud, Summer Coast, summer cock, summer cohosh, summer cold, summer colony, summer colt, summer-colt, summer complaint, Summercon, summer coot, summer cottage, summer country, summer crookneck, summer cypress, summer damask rose, summer-day, summer depression, summer diarrhea, summer diarrhoea, summer-dream, summer duck, summer-eat, summer eggs, summer encephalitis, summerer, summerfag, summer-fallowing, summer fallow, summer-fallow, Summerfest, summer fever, summer-field, summer finch, summer floor, summer flounder, summer-fold, summer fool, summer fruit tortrix moth, summerful, summer-game, Summer Games, Summer Garden, summer-gauze, summer-goose, summer grape, summer grass, summer hall, summer haw, summerhead, summer-heat, summer hemp, summer-herring, Summer Hill, Summer Hill Creek, summer hit, summer holiday, summer holidays, summer house, summer-house, summerhouse, summer-hutch, summer hyacinth, summerisation, summerise, summerize, summerish, Summer Island, Summer Isles, summer itch, summerite, summerization, summer job, summer kill, summer kitchen, summer lady, Summerland, summer-land, summerland, summerlay, summer lea-land, summer learning loss, summer-lease, summer-leding, summerless, summer lightning, summer-like, summerlike, summerling, summer-long, summerlong, summer-lord, summerly, summer master, summer mastitis, summer meal, summer melt, summer migrant, summer monsoon, summer number, Summer of Hate, Summer of Love, Summer of Three Popes, Summer Olympic Games, summer-ova, Summer Palace, Summer Paralympics, summer parlour, summer penile syndrome, summer pole, summerproof, summer pruning, summer prurigo, summer pudding, summer queening, summer queen, summer's queen, summer range, summer rape, summer rash, summer reading program, summer red-bird, summer redbird, summer redcap, summer resort, summer-ripe, summer road, summer roll, summer-room, summer rose, summer rules, summer-run fish, summers, summer sale, summer sausage, summer savory, summer's bird, summer school, summer's cloud, summer's day, summer season, summer-seeming, summer services, summer sheldrake, Summerside, summer slide, summer smog, summer snake, summer snipe, summer snowflake, summer-sob, summer soldier, summer solstice, summer sores, summer soup, summer spore, summer spot, summer squash, summer squash vine, summer's tide, summer's time, summer-stirring, summer stock, summer sunstead, summersweet, summer sweet, summer-sweet, summer tanager, summer teal, summer teeth, summerteeth, summer term, summer theater, summer theatre, summer-tide, summertide, summer-tilth, summer time, summer-time, summertime, summer tire, summer top, summer tree, summer tulip, summer vacation, summer village, summer visitor, summer warbler, summerward, summerwards, summerwear, Summerween, summer-weight, summerweight, summer wheat, summer-whiting, summer wood, summerwood, summer-work, summer-worm, summery, summer-yellow, summer yellow, summer yellowbird, sweet summer child, the Summer Triangle, the Year Without a Summer, unsummered, winter and summer
Coordinate terms
spring, autumn, fall

summer

verb
Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *s(e)m-eh₂- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-h₂-ór-o-der. Proto-Germanic *sumaraz Proto-West Germanic *sumar Old English sumor Middle English somer English summer From Middle English somer, sumer, from Old English sumor m, from Proto-West Germanic *sumar m, from Proto-Germanic *sumaraz m, derived from Proto-Indo-European *semh₂- (“summer”). Cognates Cognate with Scots somer, sumer, simer, West Frisian simmer, Saterland Frisian Suumer, Dutch zomer, Low German Sommer, German Sommer, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål sommer, Swedish sommar, Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic sumar; Welsh haf, Armenian ամ (am, “year”), ամառ (amaṙ, “summer”), Sanskrit समा (sámā, “a half-year, season, weather, year”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨 (ham-), Middle Persian ḥʾmyn (hāmīn), Northern Kurdish havîn, Central Kurdish ھاوین (hawîn).

1

To spend the summer, as in a particular place on holiday.

  • She had summered in England and France and Germany and Switzerland. She had wintered in Italy and Egypt and India and Spain.1930, Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace, Part III, Chapter II, page 282:
  • For he was an oddity, a black multimillionaire who summered on the Riviera, had an apartment in Paris and a penthouse, in a building he owned, high above Sugar Hill.1970, Wally Ferris, Across 110th, page 228:
Derived terms
summer and winter, summering, summer over
Related terms
æstival, aestival, estival

summer

adj

summer

noun
Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *s(e)m-eh₂- Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-h₂-ór-o-der. Proto-Germanic *sumaraz Proto-West Germanic *sumar Old English sumor Middle English somer English summer From Middle English somer, from Anglo-Norman summer, sumer, from Vulgar Latin saumārius, for Late Latin sagmārius, from Latin sagma (“sum”). Compare sumpter.

1

Architecture A horizontal beam supporting a building.

  • And we are warned, that the foundation or maine summers of our houses faile and shrinke, when we see the quarters bend, or wals to breake.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 43, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 146:
2

Obsolete A pack-horse.

Derived terms
bressummer, summer bar, summerbeam, summer-castle, summering, summer-piece, summer-stone, summer-tower, summertree, summer-trestle, transsummer

summer

noun

Etymology From sum + -er.

1

A person who sums.

2

A machine or algorithm that sums.

  • A basic feedback system consists of ... and a summing point (comparator or summer).2014, Michael R. Lindeburg, chapter 48, in FE Mechanical Review Manual, page 2:
  • The output of the summer is therefore fed into the input of the first integrator.2016, George H. Olsen, Ian Burdess, Computers and Microprocessors: Made Simple, page 36:
Derived terms
summer-up
Related terms
adder

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

Learn more