summer

Etymology 1

adj

1. the hottest season of the year

Etymology 2

From Middle English somer, sumer, from Old English sumor (“summer”), from Proto-West Germanic *sumar, from Proto-Germanic *sumaraz (“summer”), from Proto-Indo-European *sm̥-h₂-ó-, oblique of *semh₂- (“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”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål sommer (“summer”), Swedish sommar (“summer”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic sumar (“summer”), Welsh haf (“summer”), Armenian ամ (am, “year”), ամառ (amaṙ, “summer”), Sanskrit समा (sámā, “a half-year, season, weather, year”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬨 (ham-, “summer”), Middle Persian ḥʾmyn (hāmīn, “summer”), Northern Kurdish havîn (“summer”), Central Kurdish ھاوین (hawîn, “summer”).

noun

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 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
   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. a1420, The British Museum Additional MS, 12,056, “Wounds complicated by the Dislocation of a Bone”, in Robert von Fleischhacker, editor, Lanfranc's "Science of cirurgie.", London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co, translation of original by Lanfranc of Milan, published 1894, page 63
   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. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
   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
2. (poetic or humorous) 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. (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

1. (intransitive) To spend the summer, as in a particular place on holiday.
   We like to summer in the Mediterranean.

Etymology 3

From Middle English somer, from Anglo-Norman summer, sumer, from Vulgar Latin saumārius, for Late Latin sagmārius, from Latin sagma (“sum”). Compare sumpter.

noun

1. (architecture) A horizontal beam supporting a building.
2. (obsolete) A pack-horse.

Etymology 4

sum + -er

noun

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