summons
/ˈsʌ.mənz/ noun, verb
Also a form of summon
Forms summonses summonsing summonsed
- noun A call to do something, especially to come.
- noun (law) A notice summoning someone to appear in court, as a defendant, juror or witness.
- noun (military) A demand for surrender.
- verb (transitive) To serve someone with a summons.
Synonyms
subpoena citation invocation writ of summons convene bidding process summon cite
Etymology
From Middle English somouns (“order or command to do something”), borrowed from Old French sumunce (modern French semonce), from Vulgar Latin *summonsa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of summoneō, summonēre (“to summon”).
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of summoning; a call by authority, or by the command of a superior, to appear at a place named, or to attend to some duty.
- noun A warning or citation to appear in court; a written notification signed by the proper officer, to be served on a person, warning him to appear in court at a day specified, to answer to the plaintiff, testify as a witness, or the like.
- verb To summon. [R. or Colloq.] Swift.
Etymology [OE. somouns, OF. sumunse, semonse, semonce, F. semonce, semondre to summon, OF. p.p. semons. See Summon, v.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “summons”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details