summer
UK /ˈsʌmə/ · US /ˈsʌmɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms summers summering summered somer sommer Simmer
- noun 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”
- noun (poetic or humorous) year; used to give the age of a person, usually a young one. “He was barely eighteen summers old.”
- noun (figuratively) Most flourishing, happy, or beautiful period; golden age, prime.
- noun (countable, fashion) Someone with light, pinkish skin that has a blue undertone, light hair and eyes, seen as best suited to certain colors of clothing.
- verb (intransitive) To spend the summer, as in a particular place on holiday.
- noun (architecture) A horizontal beam supporting a building.
- noun (obsolete) A pack-horse.
- noun A person who sums.
- noun A machine or algorithm that sums.
- proper noun A female given name from English of modern usage, from summer, the name of the season, often given to girls born in summer.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
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”).
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).
From Middle English somer, from Anglo-Norman summer, sumer, from Vulgar Latin saumārius, for Late Latin sagmārius, from Latin sagma (“sum”). Compare sumpter.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who sums; one who casts up an account.
- noun A large stone or beam placed horizontally on columns, piers, posts, or the like, serving for various uses. Specifically: (a) The lintel of a door or window. (b) The commencement of a cross vault.
- noun The season of the year in which the sun shines most directly upon any region; the warmest period of the year.
- verb To pass the summer; to spend the warm season; as, to summer in Switzerland.
Etymology [From Sum, v.]
Etymology [F. sommier a rafter, the same word as sommier a beast of burden. See Sumpter.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “summer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details