Summer
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈsʌmə(ɹ)/
- Rhymes: -ʌmə(ɹ)
- US enPR: sÅmʹər, IPA: /ˈsÊŒmÉš/
Origin 1
From Middle English somer, sumer, from Old English sumor ("summer"), from Proto-Germanic *sumaraz ("summer"), from Proto-Indo-European *sam-, *sem-, *smÌ¥-hâ‚‚-ó- ("summer, year"). Cognate with Scots somer, sumer, simer ("summer"), West Frisian simmer ("summer"), Saterland Frisian Suumer ("summer"), Dutch zomer ("summer"), Low German Sommer ("summer"), German Sommer ("summer"), Swedish sommar ("summer"), Icelandic sumar ("summer"), Welsh haf ("summer"), Armenian Õ¡Õ´ (am, "year"), Õ¡Õ´Õ¡Õ¼ (amaá¹™, "summer"), Sanskrit (sámÄ, "a half-year, season, weather, year").
Alternative forms
- sommer obsolete
Full definition of summer
Noun
summer
(plural summers)- 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 being from June 21 to September 22 or 23 in parts of the USA, the months of June, July and August in the United Kingdom and the months of December, January and February in the Southern Hemisphere.the heat of summer
- a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie." Chapter Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone, Ne take noon hede to brynge togidere þe parties of þe boon þat is to-broken or dislocate, til viij. daies ben goon in þe wyntir, & v. in þe somer; for þanne it schal make quytture, and be sikir from swellynge; & þanne brynge togidere þe brynkis eiþer þe disiuncture after þe techynge þat schal be seid in þe chapitle of algebra.
- 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate Chapter 2, 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.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 1, 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.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 5, 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.’
Usage notes
Note that season names are usually spelled in all lowercase letters in English.
Antonyms
Derived terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To spend the summer, as in a particular place on holiday.We like to summer in the Mediterranean.
Derived terms
Origin 2
From Anglo-Norman somer, sumer, from Vulgar Latin saumÄrius, for Latin sagmÄrius, from sagma ("sum").
Noun
summer
(plural summers)- (obsolete) A pack-horse.
- A horizontal beam supporting a building.
- 1603, John Florio, trans. Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.43: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.
Synonyms
- (horizontal beam) summer-tree