Forms: 1 sumor, (-ur), 1–4 sumer, 3–6 somer, 4–5 somere, Sc. -yr(e, 4–6 Sc. somir, 4–7 sommer, (3 Ormin sumerr, 4 Kent. zomer, 5 somare, -or, sommyr, sommure, Sc. swmyr, 6 sommar), 6– summer. β. Sc. 6 symmer, 8–9 simmer. [OE. sumor masc. = OFris. sumur, -er (Fris. sommer, simmer), MLG. sommer, MDu. somer (Du. zomer), OHG. sumar (MHG. sumer, G. sommer), ON. sumar neut. (Sw. sommar, Da. sommer).
Generally recognized cognates outside Germanic are Arm. amarn summer, Skr. samā half-year, year, Zend hama in summer, OIr. sam, W. haf summer.]
1. The second and warmest season of the year, coming between spring and autumn; reckoned astronomically from the summer solstice (21 June) to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 Sept.); in popular use comprising in the northern hemisphere the period from mid-May to mid-August; also often, esp. as in (c) below, in contradistinction to winter, the warmer half of the year (cf. MIDSUMMER). (Often with initial capital.)
(a) In general use. (Also personified) Often in in summer (OE. on sumera, ME. o, a or in sumere).
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, lxxiii. 17. Aestatem & ver, sumur & lenten.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., iv. § 1. Þu þe þam winterdaʓum selest scorte tida & þæs sumeres dahum langran. Ibid., xxi. § 1. On sumera hit biþ wearm, and on wintra ceald.
a. 1000. Gnomic Verses, 7, in Grein, I. 338. Winter byð cealdost,… sumor sunwliteʓost.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11254. O sumerr, & onn herrfessttid, O winnterr, & o lenntenn.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 20. Euerich on sigge … vhtsong bi nihte ine winter, ine sumer iþe dawunge.
12[?]. Song on Passion, 1, in O. E. Misc. Somer is comen and winter gon.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xi. (Simon & Jude), 454. In þat houre quhen sik clernes suld be as in-to somyre wes.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 38. In Wynter doth he noght for cold, In Somer mai he noght for hete.
a. 1400. Pistill of Susan, 66. In þe seson of somere … Heo greiþed hire til hire gardin.
1528. More, Dyaloge, I. Wks. 135/2. I had leuer shyuer & shake for cold in ye middes of somer, than be burned in the middes of winter.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, II. 89. T’ haue made thy name be farre more fam’d and feard Then Summers thunder to the silly Heard.
a. 1599. Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 29. Then came the iolly Sommer … And on his head a girlond well beseene He wore.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xciv. The sommers flowre is to the sommer sweet.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 246. Where the Attic Bird Trills her thick-warbl’d notes the summer long.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 107. The Seasons of the Year might generally be divided, not into Summer and Winter, as in Europe; but into the Rainy Seasons, and the Dry Seasons.
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 192. It’s true, they need na starve or sweat, Thro Winter’s cauld, or Summer’s heat.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par. (1890), 61/1. When Summer brings the lily and the rose.
β. 1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxix. 49. Cum, lustie symmer! with thy flouris.
1583. Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 46. The plesant plane-trie will the leavs vnfauld With fairest schaddow to save the sone in symmer.
1806. Tannahill, Braes o Gleniffer, iii. Poems (1900), 152. Oh, gin I saw my bonnie Scots callan, The dark days o winter war simmer to me!
(b) In particularized use, esp. with qualification or contextually, denoting this season in a certain year.
c. 900. O. E. Chron. (Parker MS.), an. 897. Þy ilcan sumera forwearð nolæs þonne .xx. scipa mid monnum.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 7123. On vs þey wyle þis somer haste.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 242. In a somer ich seyh hym,… as ich sat in my porche.
c. 1450. Brut, II. 304. In þe xxvij. ȝere of his regne was þe grete derþe of vitailes, þe wiche was clepid þe dere somer.
1530. Palsgr., 814/1. This sommer that commeth.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, Ded. I will assure your Ladiship my next Sommers better trauell with the Tragedy of Portia.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. Ep. Ded. When it pleased your Honour in sommer was two yeeres to haue some conference with me.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1650), 208. The Springs and Summers which we see.
1842. J. Aiton, Dom. Econ. (1857), 303. Our [Scotch] summers are said to consist of 3 hot days and a thunder-storm.
1895. W. W. Story, Fiammetta, 19. You will find me there all summer.
1906. R. Bayne, Butler’s Anal., Introd. p. xi. He came to England in the summer of 1720.
(c) Phr. summer and winter, winter and summer, OE., ME. (advb. gen.) sumeres and wintres, all the year round.
a. 1000. Phœnix 37 (Gr.). Wintres & sumeres wudu bið ʓelice bledum ʓehongen.
c. 1205. Lay., 2861. Enne blase of fure, þe neuer ne aþeostrede wintres ne sumeres.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxii. (Laurence), 3. A fare tre callit lawrane, þat wyntyre & somir ay is grene.
1473. Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879), I. 189. That ged eyls and fyscis … ma be conseruyt … bath swmyr and wyntir.
1547. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), VI. 265. My suster … to have foure kie founde wynter and sommer.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxi. A bit bonny drapping well that popples that self-same gate simmer and winter.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, Lond. of To-day, xliii. (ed. 3), 378. Winter and summer, steamboats leave Westminster for Greenwich and Woolwich half-hourly.
b. Applied, with qualification, to a period of fine dry weather in late autumn; see ALL-HALLOW(S 7, INDIAN SUMMER, MARTIN3 3 c; St. Luke’s (little) summer, little summer of St. Luke, such a period occurring about St. Luke’s Day, 18 Oct. (Cf. Ger. allweibersommer.)
1828. T. Forster, Circle of Seasons, 293. Fair, warm, and dry weather, often occurs about this time, and is called St. Luke’s Little Summer.
1855. N. & Q., 1st Ser. XII. 366/1. A few fine days about this time, called St. Luke’s little summer; which the good folks of Hants and Dorset always expect about the 18th of this month.
1881. G. Milner, Country Pleas., xli. 232. As autumn proceeds, we watch anxiously for that season of respite which … is known … as the Little Summer of St. Luke.
c. transf. Summer weather; a season resembling summer; summery or warm weather.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in O. E. Hom., I. 193. Þer bloweð inne blisse blostmen…. Þer ne mei non ualuwen, uor þer is eche sumer.
a. 1529. Skelton, Bouge of Court, 355. His gowne so shorte that it ne couer myghte His rumpe, he wente so all for somer lyghte.
1634. Milton, Comus, 988. There eternal Summer dwels.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 24 June 1693. A very wet hay harvest, and little Summer as yet.
1855. Tennyson, Daisy, 92. Lands of summer across the sea.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 140. Here is an everlasting summer of 70° to 80°.
d. In fig. and allusive use.
c. 1535. Nisbet, N. T., Prol. Rom., Wks. (S.T.S.), III. 334. Quhair the spret is, thair is alwayis symmer, ande thair is allwayis gude fructes.
1591. Greene, Farew. Folly, Wks. (Grosart), IX. 323. Beeing as intemperate in the frostie winter of their age, as we in the glowing summer of our youth.
1679. Dryden & Lee, Œdipus, IV. i. She, tho’ in full-blown flow’r of glorious beauty, Grow’s cold, ev’n in the Summer of her Age.
1811. W. R. Spencer, Poems, 75. The summer of her smile.
1859. Tennyson, Marr. Geraint, 398. For now the wine made summer in his veins.
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. iii. 72. This sudden change from winter to summer.
2. In pl. with numeral, put for ‘year.’ Now only poet. or in speaking of a young person’s age.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1686. Þus he countes hym a kow, þat was a kyng ryche, Quyle seuen syþez were ouer-seyed someres I trawe.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., I. i. 133. Fiue Sommers haue I spent in farthest Greece.
1631. Milton, Ep. March. Winch., 7. Summers three times eight save one She had told.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VIII. v. Fifteen summers had she bloomed.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., IV. ii. 157. Doge Dandolo survived to ninety summers.
1842. Tennyson, Godiva, 11. The woman of a thousand summers back, Godiva.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 18 July, 8/2. A good-looking young lady of apparently twenty summers.
3. = summer-herring (see 6 b). ? Obs.
1682. J. Collins, Salt & Fishery, 106. Of Herrings. Summers are such as the Dutch Chasers or Divers catch from June to the 15th of July.
4. attrib. passing into adj. a. = Of or pertaining to summer, characteristic of summer, summer-like, summery; suitable or appropriate to, used or occupied in, summer; existing, appearing, active, performed or produced in summer.
As the number of these attrib. uses is unlimited, only the earliest and most important examples are given here.
(a) of natural phenomena, animals, plants, etc. (Cf. OE. sumorhǽte summer-heat.)
a. 1300. Siriz, 294. Ȝus, bi the somer blome, Hethen nulli ben bi-nomen.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 35. Now be the lusti somer floures.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 707. Hec polemita, a somerboyde [see BOUD].
c. 1450. trans. Giraldus Cambrensis’ Hist. Irel. (1896), 28. Storkes & swalewes, & oþer somer foules.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xi. 26. Thy lustye bewte and thy ȝouth Sall feid as dois the somer flouris.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 293. Blow like sweet Roses, in this summer aire. Ibid., 408. These summer flies, Haue blowne me full of maggot ostentation. Ibid. (1590), Mids. N., II. i. 110. An odorous Chaplet of sweet Sommer buds.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacr., II. i. Tears, and vows, and words, Moves her no more than summer-winds a rock.
1634. Milton, Comus, 928. Summer drouth, or singed air Never scorch thy tresses fair.
1680. H. More, Apocal. Apoc., Pref. 26. The Papacy would melt away like a bank of snow in the summer-sun.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. xviii. 467/1. These are the true shapes both of the Summer Butterfly, and the Wood-louse.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Silk, The Warmth of the Summer Weather.
1748. Gray, Alliance, 101. Nile redundant o’er his Summer-bed. Ibid. (1754), Poesy, 83. Far from the sun and summer-gale.
1781. Cowper, Conversat., 705. But Conversation … Should flow, like waters after summer show’rs. Ibid. (1790), J. Thornton, 38. The summer rill Refreshes, where it winds, the faded green.
1817. Shelley, Marianne’s Dream, 25. The sky was blue as the summer sea. Ibid. (1820), Witch Atl., xl. The busy dreams, as thick as summer flies.
1820. Keats, Isabella, ix. Lady! thou leadest me to summer clime.
1834. Mrs. Hemans, Happy Hour, 5. Early-blighted leaves, which o’er their way Dark summer-storms had heaped.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 566. The greater part of the summer shoots ought to be stopt.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, iii. The summer sun was never on the street.
1850. Miss Pratt, Comm. Things of Sea-side, iii. 171. The insects of our summer pools.
1879. F. W. Robinson, Coward Consc., I. i. Without cap or bonnet, as if in fair summer-weather trim.
(b) of clothing, food, etc.
1363–4. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 566. In uno panno … pro somersercortes [sic] pro armigeris Prioris.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. X. 119. He sente hem forth seluerles in a somer garnement.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 4343. Make we na salues for na sares ne na somir-bathis.
c. 1480. Henryson, Mor. Fab., xi. (For & Wolf), xviii. It is somer cheis, baith fresche and fair.
1481. Cely Papers (Camden), 71. j pack lyeth upprest and sum of that packe ys somer felles.
1536. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 280. Ane pair symmir buttis to the Kingis grace.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. xvi. 17. Sommer cloathing of the women of Malta.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 916. When … Maidens bleach their summer smockes.
c. 1620. Hatton Corr. (Camden), 3. At my returne I will make you a sommer sute.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, i. 40. Charg’d with light Summer-rings his fingers sweat. Ibid. (1697), Virg. Georg., III. 665. A Snake … in his Summer Liv’ry rouls along.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 367. It lies extremely convenient for my summer-pasture.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 63/2. The melasses may … compose the basis of a pleasant summer beer.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 325. The summer cheese, which is the best, is made of the evening milk.
1834. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), XXII. 366/1. Such is its Summer coat, and … we distinguish it by the name Stoat.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. Fleet, I. 33. Sir Robert is calling every day for a summer sallet to cool his blood.
(c) of places or buildings. (Cf. OE. sumerselde, SUMMER-HOUSE.)
1382. Wyclif, Judg. iii. 20. Forsothe he sat in the somer sowpynge place [Vulg. in æstivo cœnaculo] alone.
1596. Edward III., II. i. 61. Then in the sommer arber sit by me.
1611. Bible, Judg. iii. 24. Surely he couereth his feet in his Summer chamber. Ibid. (1611), Dan. ii. 35. [They] became like the chaffe of the summer threshing floores.
1612. Webster, White Devil, I. ii. Tis iust like a summer bird-cage in a garden.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4447/1. The Heat of the Weather obliges both sides to retire … into their Summer Quarters.
1783. Cowper, Faithf. Friend, 1. The green-house is my summer seat.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. ix. 307. To establish his summer residence in Lanarkshire.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., I. 146. A certain summer-palace which I have.
(d) of times and seasons. (See also SUMMER-DAY, -TIDE, TIME.)
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 170. Sho wolde gar hur maydyns gader þe dew on sommer mornyngis.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot., I. 228. Wpoun ane summar morning … ane of the Inglishe scheipis persaueit tua schipis command wnder saill.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie, Ep. Ded. (Arb.), 15. A sleight somewhat compyled for recreation, in the intermyssions of my daylie businesse, (euen thys Summer Eueninges).
1592. Arden of Feversham, I. i. 58. Sommer nights are short, and yet you ryse ere day.
1599. Shaks., etc., Pass. Pilgr., 159. Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 606. I left once, by chance, a Citron cut, in a close Roome, for three Summer-Moneths.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 130. Such sights as youthfull Poets dream On Summer eeves by haunted stream.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 55. The dazzling roofs,… Resplendent as the blaze of summer noon.
1785. Burns, Holy Fair, 1. Upon a simmer Sunday morn.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xlv. All the tints of a summer-evening sky.
1821. Shelley, Hellas, 13. Sweet as a summer night without a breath.
1833. Tennyson, Pal. of Art, 62. A gaudy summer-morn.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 621. Excursions are made during the summer months.
(e) of conditions, qualities or actions.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iii. 13. Their lips were foure red Roses on a stalke, And in their Summer Beauty kist each other.
1617. Wither, Abuses, II. iv. 275. Their ancient drunken-summer-reuelings Are out of date.
1636. H. Burton, Div. Trag., 22. One in Glocestershire being very forward to advance a solemne sommer-meeting [for sports].
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, I. After so many Sommer vagaries.
1684. T. Burnet, Th. Earth, I. ix. 123. This reason is a Summer-reason, and would pass very ill in Winter.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 194. Towards the end of May, you must give your Ground the Summer-Digging.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v. July, Vines … will be satisfy’d with a single winter and one summer Pruning.
1726–46. Thomson, Winter, 644. A gay insect in his summer shine … spreads his mealy wings.
1787. Burns, Petit. Bruar Water, i. Saucy Phœbus’ scorching beams, In flaming summer-pride.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, I. i. The Moon is in her summer glow.
1819. Keats, Indolence, ii. The blissful cloud of summer-indolence Benumb’d my eyes.
1826. Lamb, Pop. Fallacies, xii. [The talk] is not of toys, of nursery books, of summer holidays.
1836–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., II. 768/2. The summer-sleep of hibernating animals.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 34/2. Birds that have taken prizes at London Summer Meeting.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 255. During this interval of rest, directly after the first growth is complete, is the best time for summer trimming.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, III. i. My bed of long delight and summershine.
(f) with descriptive designations.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., V. i. Lyg. I know you dare lie. Bes. With none but Summer Whores…, my means and manners never could attempt above a hedge or haycock.
1645. G. Daniel, Scattered Fancies, XXIII. iv. You are but weake, Meere summer Chanters.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 45/1. Three if not four species are common summer immigrants to some part or other of the United States.
1897. Appleton’s Ann. Cycl., 808/1. The statistics of the summer-boarder industry are very incomplete.
(g) in superlative summerest (nonce-formation).
1772. H. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 3 Aug. The summerest summer that I have known these hundred years.
b. The possessive summer’s is similarly used, but now chiefly with morning, evening and night. (See also SUMMER’S DAY, SUMMER’S TIDE.)
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 821. As the somerys sonne bryghte.
14[?]. Sir Beues, 4138 (Pynson), M iv. And so lasted that cruel fyght, Al that longe somers nyght.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. vii. 109. In the symmeris drouth, Quhen wyndis risis of the north or south.
1592. Soliman & Pers., I. v. 64. The humming of a gnat in Summers night.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. i. 210. Ditties highly penn’d, Sung by a faire Queene in a Summers Bowre. Ibid. (1601), Jul. C., III. ii. 176. ’Twas on a Summers Euening.
1613. Jackson, Creed, I. xxiii. 136. Diseases, neuer perceiued in their Summers growth, vntill they be ripe of death in the Autumne.
1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 22. The Sodomites … shall have a Summers parlour in hell over that soule.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 43. The … sight of vernal bloom, or Summers Rose. Ibid., IX. 447. As one … Forth issuing on a Summers Morn.
1721. Ramsay, Keitha, 45. Her presence, like a simmer’s morning ray.
1780–2. Cowper, Cricket, 21. Their’s is but a summer’s song.
1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, I. i. Ae Simmer’s morning.
1855. Miller, Elem. Chem., Chem. Phys., iii. § 4. 112. If the right rhombic crystals [of sulphate of nickel] be placed in the summer’s sun for a few days they become opaque.
c. Applied to crops, etc., that ripen in summer, as summer fruit, more particularly to such as ripen in the summer of the year in which they are sown, as summer barley, corn, grain, rye, seed, vetch, wheat; also spec. in popular names of early ripening apples and pears, as summer apple, pearmain, poppering, etc. (cf. also 6 b).
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxv. (Bodl. MS.). Winter seede is sone isowe and somer sede is late isowe.
1535. Coverdale, Amos viii. 1. Beholde, there was a maunde with sommer frute.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., 26. Sommer seedes, whiche are sowed before the risyng of the seuen starres, and in the Spring, as Beanes. Ibid. Sommer Barley … and suche other, are sowed in the Spring time. Ibid., 27 b. Rye … is sowed … in Februarie, and called Sommer Wheate. Ibid., 34. Pease … are sowed among Sommer Corne.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, IV. i. 453. A sommer wheate or grayne. Ibid. Men sow their winter corne in September, or October, & the sommer corne in March, but they are ripe altogither in July.
1676. Worlidge, Cyder (1691), 214. The Denny-pear, Prussia-pear, Summer-Poppering … are all very good table-fruit.
1681. Grew, Musæum, II. III. iii. 235. Summer Wheat of New England.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 174. I spoke … of the husbandry of sowing goar or summer-vetches.
1722. Phil. Trans., XXXII. 231. The Apple, that produces the Molosses, is a Summer-Sweeting.
1764. Ann. Reg., II. 2. Several trials of summer-corn … in which both barley and oats have succeeded.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 435. He was … obliged to wait till Mr. Rocque’s summer-seed was reaped.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 244. The real spring or summer wheat, has been of late introduced in various districts in Scotland.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 190/1. Summer golden pippin. Summer Thorle.
1854. Mayne, Expos. Lex., 352/1. Summer-fruits; as cherries, currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.
† d. Having a sunny or southerly aspect; so summer-east, -west = south-east, -west. Obs.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 491. Thyn oilcelar sette on the somer side.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 328. Towarde the sommer East, it confineth with the Tartars.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. v. 135. They do call lower windes those … which blowe from the South to the summer-weast.
1676. Phil. Trans., XI. 585. A kind of Solar stove, made in a Summer-wall.
e. fig. with reference to prosperous, pleasant or genial conditions; said esp. of friendship that lasts only in times of prosperity, = FAIR-WEATHER 2.
1592. Nashe, Strange Newes, Wks. 1904, I. 291. His low-flighted affection (fortunes summer folower).
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 12. If ’t be Summer Newes Smile too ’t before.
1624. Quarles, Job Militant, Digestion, iv. In Winter fortunes nip thy Summer Friends,… despaire not, but be wise.
1632. Massinger, Maid of Hon., III. i. Summer-friendship, Whose flattering leaves, that shadowed us in our Prosperity … drop off In the Autumn of adversity!
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 347. Luxurious Men, unheeding, pass An idle summer-life in fortune’s shine.
1776. Paine, The Crisis, i. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.
c. 1800. R. Cumberland, John De Lancaster (1809), III. 93. We are but summer soldiers.
1805. Ann. Rev., III. 584. He was in the Fleet … deserted by his three Summer friends. Ibid. (1818), XIX. 42. He was the frequent visitor of Clarendon, when that admirable man was abandoned by the swarm of summer followers.
1842. Tennyson, Locksley Hall, 164. Summer isles of Eden.
5. Comb.: objective, as summer-breathing, loving ppl. adjs.; instrumental, as summer-blanched, -dried, -shrunk, -stricken pples, and ppl. adjs.; similative, as summer-seeming adj.; ‘in or during summer,’ as summer-brewed, -felled, -flowering, -leaping, † -lived, -made, -ripening, -staying, -swelling, -threshed pples. and ppl. adjs.; summer-feed, -graze, -prune, -till, -yard vbs.; summer-curer.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 152. One [sc. hut] that, *summer-blanch’d, Was parcel-bearded with the traveller’s-joy.
1806. M. A. Shee, Rhymes on Art, 68.
| Life’s gentler joys, that spread their silken sails, | |
| In calmer seas, and *summer-breathing gales. |
1826. Art of Brewing (ed. 2), 32. Imperfect fermentation … causes acidity and other faults in *summer-brewed beers.
1881. Chicago Times, 14 May. It is to the interest now of the leading *summer-curers [sc. of pork] to get values down.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xvi. A *summer-dried fountain.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Linc., 190. 13 acres of marsh at Grimsby, that *summer-feeds 14 bullocks.
1838. Holloway, Prov. Dict., To skeer, to mow lightly over, applied to pastures, which have been summer fed.
1804. Phil. Trans., XCV. 92. Proper marks were put to distinguish the winter-felled from the *summer-felled poles.
1897. Mrs. E. L. Voynich, Gadfly, i. In one corner stood a huge *summer-flowering magnolia.
1900. Daily News, 5 May, 4/5. Summer-flowering chrysanthemums.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Linc., 354. He … in April *summer-grazed them, taking the wool.
1596. Edw. III., II. i. 107. To musicke euery *sommer leaping swaine Compares his sunburnt louer when shee speakes.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. 1904, II. 275. *Summer liude grashoppers gaping after deaw.
1875. Zoologist, Ser. II. X. 4693. They [sc. starlings] fly into the air with swallows, &c., and catch insects similar to that *summer-loving tribe.
1842. J. Aiton, Dom. Econ. (1857), 206. This … increases the quantity of your *summer-made manure.
1786. Abercrombie, Gard. Assist., 174. *Summer prune by displacing all fore-right productions.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Companion, 44. They are cropped with small grains or *summer-ripening crops.
1605. Shaks., Macb., IV. iii. 86. This Auarice … growes with more pernicious roote Then *Summer-seeming Lust.
1825. Scott, Betrothed, ii. A maiden smiles at the *summer-shrunk brook while she crosses it.
1868. Lynch, Rivulet, CLX. iii. Can … The *summer-staying birds forget The winter’s force to shun?
1827. Scott, Highl. Widow, v. You do but resemble the *summer-stricken stream, which is turned aside by the rushes.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. iv. 162. Lest the base earth Should … Disdaine to roote the *Sommer-swelling flowre.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 346. It enables the farmer to make his *summer-threshed straw into dung.
1847. Halliwell, s.v., ‘That field was *summer-tilled last year,’ i. e. lay fallow.
1840. J. Buel, Farmer’s Companion, 198. Feeding these crops with the long manure of the yards and stables, instead of *summer-yarding it.
6. Special combs.: † summer-ale, (a) ale brewed in summer, new or heady ale; (b) a summer festival (see ALE 3); summer-barm v. intr., to ferment in warm weather; † summer-blink, a short spell of sunshine in dull weather; † summer-broach, a maypole decked; summer catarrh = HAY-FEVER; summer cholera = CHOLERA 2; summer-colt (usually pl.) local, the undulating appearance of the air near the ground on a hot day; see also quot. 1825; summer complaint U.S., summer diarrhœa of children; also, infantile cholera and dysentery; summer diarrhæa = summer cholera; summer-dream, a pleasant or happy dream; summer-eat v. trans. dial., to use as summer pasture; summer-eggs = summer ova (Cassell, 1887); summer fever, hay-fever; summer-field, † (a) rendering L. æstiva area = summer floor; (b) a field with the summer crop; (c) dial. a summer-fallow; † summer floor [FLOOR sb.1 6], a thrashing-floor; summer-fold (now dial.), a freckle; summer-gauze, -goose local, gossamer; † summer hall, (a) rendering L. æstiva area = summer floor; (b) = SUMMER-HOUSE 2, 2 b; summer-heat [OE. sumorhǽte], the heat of summer; spec. an arbitrary maximum summer temperature commonly marked on thermometers; † summer lady, the queen of the ‘summer-game’; summerlay sb. dial., land lying fallow in summer; in East Anglia, a turnip fallow; summerlay v. trans. dial., to lay fallow; † summer lea-land = SUMER-FALLOW; summer-lease dial. (see quots.); summer-leding pseudo-arch. [f. OE. sumorlida summer expedition (O. E. Chron., an. 871)], see quot.; summer lightning, sheet lightning without audible thunder, often seen in hot weather; also allusively and attrib.; † summer-lord, a youth chosen as president of the ‘summer-game’; cf. MAY-LORD; summer meal Sc., meal for use until harvest; summer number, a summer issue of a periodical, with special features; summer-ova, eggs produced by certain freshwater invertebrates in spring and summer; summer parlour Obs. or arch., an apartment for summer use; † summer-pole, a pole decked with flowers erected during the ‘summer-games’; † summer(’s) queen = summer lady; summer rash, prickly heat, Lichen tropicus; † summer-ripe a., fully ripe; † summer-room = SUMMER-HOUSE 2; summer-sob Sc., a summer shower; summer spot, a freckle; † summer-stirring, summer ploughing; hence † summer-stir v. trans.; summer top v. trans., to cut off as in summer pruning; † summer tree Sc. = summer-pole; summer-work sb. and v., -working = SUMMER-FALLOW sb. and v.; summer-yellow, a variety of cotton-seed oil.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 109. The superfluities of *summer-ale, that hath wrought in his giddie braine.
1636. H. Burton, Div. Trag., 21. The people … prepared for a solemne summer-ale.
1828. Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), s.v., When malt liquor begins to ferment, in warm weather, before the application of the barm, it is said to be *summer-barm’d.
1637. Rutherford, Lett. to R. Gordon, 1 Jan. Yet I am in this hot *summer-blink, with the tear in my eye.
1619. Pasquil’s Palin., B 3. A *Sommer-broach, Ycleap’d a May-pole.
1828. Medico-Chirurg. Trans., XIV. 437. Of the Catarrhus Æstivus, or *Summer Catarrh.
1862. Chamb. Encycl., III. 6/1. The milder forms of C[holera] … termed by some … British or *Summer C[holera].
1685. Phil. Trans., XV. 993. An undulating motion [which] our Countrie People call by the name of *Summer Colts in the Air.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 21. The summer cauts [mispr. cauls] were dancing here an’ there.
1796. W. H. Marshall, Rural Econ. Yorks. (ed. 2), II. 349. When the air is seen in a calm hot day to undulate,… the phænomenon is expressed by saying, ‘the summer colt rides.’
1825. Jamieson, Summer-couts,… the gnats which dance in clusters on a summer evening.
1847. E. Hallowell, in Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci., XIV. 40. On the endemic gastro-follicular enteritis, or *‘summer complaint’ of children.
1855. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Summer complaint,… is often … made to include dysentery and cholera infantum.
1883. F. T. Roberts, Th. & Pract. Med. (ed. 5), 196. The so-called sporadic, bilious, or English cholera, or *summer diarrhœa, the symptoms of which sometimes closely resemble those of true cholera.
1820. Clare, Poems Rural Life (ed. 3), 60. Ye gently dimpled, curling streams, Rilling as smooth as *summer-dreams.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 1 July, 14/2. Delighting in the summer-dream of love.
1788. W. H. Marshall, Rural Econ. Yorks., II. 357. *Summer-eat, to use as pasture.
1870. Zoologist, Ser. II. V. 2335. A field of summer-eaten clover, from which the sheep had a few days been removed.
1867. Pirrie, Hay Asthma, 25. It appears to us, that in many instances, *Summer Fever or Summer Illness, would be more applicable than Hay Fever.
1382. Wyclif, Dan. ii. 35. The yren,… syluer, and gold, ben … dryuen as in to a qwenchid brond of *somer feeld [1388 somer halle; Vulg. æstivæ areæ].
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. ii. 8. The wretched, bloody, and vsurping Boare, (That spoyl’d your Summer Fields, and fruitfull Vines).
1794. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, 59. In the four-field husbandry, where the clover is sown the second year, and mowed the third, the field becomes in the fourth year what is called in Wiltshire ‘a summer field.’
1535. Coverdale, Dan. ii. 35. Like the chaffe off corne, that the wynde bloweth awaye from ye *somer floores.
1668. Lond. Gaz., No. 282/4. With some Freakles, or *Summer foldes in the Face.
1876. Whitby Gloss., *Summer-gauze, gossamer; quantities of which, blown from the land to the sea, adheres to the rigging of ships.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, *Summer-goos, the gossamer. North.
1388. *Somer halle [see summer field, 1382].
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 2922. So silis he furth … in-to a somere-hall, Þare sesonde was a soper.
1429. in Munim. Magd. Coll. Oxf. (1882), 16. j somerhalle cum iij cameris ibidem annexis.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abuses, M 3 b. They straw the ground rounde about, binde green boughes about it [sc. the May-pole], set vp sommer haules, bowers, and arbors.
1781. Cowper, Retirem., 196. Her [sc. Nature’s] *summer heats, her fruits, and her perfumes.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 319. If the instrument is … intended chiefly to measure the higher degrees of heat, as from a summer-heat to that of boiling water.
1853. M. Arnold, Scholar Gypsy, vii. In my boat I lie Moor’d to the cool bank in the summer heats.
1877. Huxley, Physiogr., 64. The Summer-heat may never be strong enough to melt all the ice.
1571. *Summer lady [see summer lord].
1782. W. H. Marshall, Rural Econ. Norfolk (1795), II. 320. Lambs … bought up by the East Norfolk ‘graziers’ in order to pick among their *summerlies, and their stubbles, after harvest.
1467. Paston Lett., II. 302. He wolde *somerlay and tylle the londe, otherwise then it is. Ibid. (c. 1503), III. 402. The seide x. acres londe, sowen with barly and peson, wherof v. acres were weel somerlayde to the seid barly.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 464/1. *Somyr laylond, novale.
1863. W. Barnes, Dorset Gloss, Leäze, or *Zummerleäze.… A field stocked through the summer, in distinction from a mead which is mown.
1886. W. Som. Gloss., Summerleys, summerleaze, pasture fed only in summer.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., iii. A certain amount of *‘summer-leding’ (i.e. piracy between seed-time and harvest).
1833. Tennyson, Miller’s Daughter, 13. Gray eyes lit up With *summer lightnings of a soul So full of summer warmth.
1856. Mrs. Gore, Life’s Lessons, xxiv. Like summer lightning gleaming from a thunder-cloud.
1872. Daily News, 7 Nov., 5/6. When a pheasant is flushed you only catch a summer-lightning glimpse of him.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 330/1. What is called ‘summer lightning’ or ‘wild-fire.’… In the majority of cases it is merely the effect of a distant thunderstorm. It is also often due to a thunderstorm in the higher strata of the atmosphere overhead.
1571. Grindal, Injunc., II. § 19. That the Minister and church wardens shall not suffer any Lordes of misrule, or *sommer Lordes, or Ladies … to come vnreuerently into any Church, or Chapel.
1589. Marprel., Hay any Work, 3. The sommer Lord with his Maie game.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxix. 30. Lairdis in silk harlis to the eill, For quhilk thair tennentis sald *somer meill.
1877. Huxley, Anat. Inv. Anim., 190. In some Rotifers, the eggs are distinguishable, as in certain Turbellaria, into *summer and winter ova.
1388. Wyclif, Judg. iii. 20. He sat aloone in a *somer parlour.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 26. So he left them a while in a Summer Parler below.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphron, I. 95. As we sate round the Tea-table, in a Summer-Parlour which looks into the Garden.
1829. Scott, Guy M., Introd. The old man led the way into a summer parlour.
1617. Wither, Abuses, II. iv. 277. They know how to discommend A May-game, or a *Summer-pole defie.
1619. Pasquil’s Palin., B 3 b. Since the Sommer-poles were ouerthrowne, And all good sports and merryments decayd.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1627. *Somur qwenes, and qwaintans, & oþer gwaint gaumes.
1590. Greene, Mourning Garm., C 3 b. Faire she was as faire might be … Beautious, like a Sommers Queene.
1820. Good, Nosology, 466. Lichen … Tropicus … Attacks new settlers in the West Indies, and other warm regions…. Prickly heat. *Summer-rash.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, II. (1693), 228. It is an Injury … upon Corn, when it is *Summer-ripe, not to be cut down with the Sickle.
1748. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit. (1753), I. 307. On the Summit of this Hill his Lordship built a *Summer-room.
1797. Jane Austen, Sense & Sens., xiii. One of the pleasantest Summer-rooms in England.
1768. Ross, Helenore, 69. Yon *summer sob is out, This night looks well,… The morn, I hope, will better prove.
1876. Dunglison, Med. Lex., *Summer Spots, Ephelides.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 332. To *Summer stir, to Fallow Land in the Summer.
1766. Complete Farmer, To Summer-land, or To Summer-Stir, to fallow land in the summer.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 555. At mid-May you shall manure it, and in Iune you shall giue it the second earing, which is called *Sommer-stirring.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 49. The head of thys sedicion was *sommer topped, that it coulde haue no tyme to sprynge any higher.
1555. Acts Parl. Scot., Mary (1814), II. 500/1. Gif ony wemen or vthers about *simmer treis singand makis perturbatioun to the Quenis liegis in the passage throw Burrowis.
1886. Cheshire Gloss., *Summer-work, a summer fallow.
1682. Martindale, in Houghton, Coll. Lett. Impr. Husb., No. 11. 125. If it [sc. land] grow weedy or grassie, we sometimes Fallow or *Summer-work it.
1793. J. H. Campbell, in Young’s Annals Agric., XX. 124. The fallows (or *Summer-workings) are tumbled over by the plough, and jingled over by harrows.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 263. Rotation of different crops, fallowing, summer-working.
1912. Standard, 20 Sept., 8/1. Cottonseed oil irregular, *summer yellow spot 10 up, October option 9 points down.
b. In names of animals and plants that are active or flourish in summer (often rendering L. æstivus, æstivalis as a specific name): summer cock dial., see quots.; summer cypress = BELVEDERE 2; summer duck, a North American duck, Æx sponsa, the wood-duck; summer finch U.S., a popular name for birds of the genus Peucæa; † summer fool, a species of Leucojum; summer grape, a North American wild grape, Vitis æstivalis; summer grass, (a) the grass of summer; (b) the Australian hairy finger-grass, Panicum sanguinale; summer haw, Cratægus flava; summer hemp = FIMBLE sb.1 1; summer-herring, (a) a herring taken in summer; (b) U.S. applied to some fishes resembling the herring, as the alewife, Clupea serrata; summer rape, Brassica campestris (Treas. Bot., 1866); summer redbird, the rose tanager, Pyranga æstiva, which summers in N. America; summer rose, (a) a rose of summer; (b) an early kind of pear; summer savory (see SAVORY 1); summer snake = GREEN SNAKE 1; summer snipe, the common sandpiper, Tringoides hypoleucus; summer snowflake (see SNOWFLAKE 3); summer squash, a pumpkin (Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1874); summer tanager = summer redbird; summer teal, the garganey; † summer-whiting = PELAMYD 1; summer-worm, a worm or maggot that breeds in summer; summer yellowbird, a N. American wood-warbler, Dendrœca æstiva.
1790. Grose, Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2), Suppl., *Summer-cock, a young salmon at that time. York City.
1882. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 69. In Northumberland a ‘milter’ or spawning male is known as a summer-cock or gib-fish.
1767. Abercrombie, Ev. Man his own Gardener (1803), 735/2. Belvidere or *Summer Cypress.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants (1836), 206. Kochia scoparia … summer Cypress.
1732. Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 449. The *Summer Duck … is one of the most beautiful of Birds.
1743. M. Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina (1754), I. 97. The Summer Duck … is of a mean size, between the common Wild Duck and Teal.
1860. Gosse, Rom. Nat. Hist., 199. The Summer-duck of America … delights in woods.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 373. Peucæa æstivalis illinoensis, Illinois *Summer Finch.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. lxxviii. 121. Leucoium Bulbosum præcos. Timely flowring Bulbus violet…. In English we may call it … after the Dutch name Somer sottekens, that is, *Sommer fooles.
1629. Parkinson, Parad. (1904), 16. Diuers sorts of Crocus or Saffron flower will appeare, the little early Summer foole or Leucoium bulbosum.
1814. Pursh, Flora Amer. Septentr., I. 169. Vitis æstivalis sinuata … is known by the name of *Summer-grape.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., I. i. 65. Which … Grew like the *Summer Grasse, fastest by Night.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 3. The rich loads of summer-grass or grain.
1889. Maiden, Usef. Pl. Australia, 102. Panicum sanguinale,… Summer Grass.
1856. A. Gray, Man. Bot. (1860), 124. C[ratægus] flàva, Ait. (*Summer Haw).
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 118. The light *Summer-hemp, that bears no Seed, is called Fimble hemp.
1614. T. Gentleman, England’s Way, 20. A barrell of *Summer-herrings, worth 20 or 30 shillings.
1883. Wallem, Fish Supply Norway, 17. The catch of Summer-herring and Sprat in the Fisheries of the years 1876–1881.
1743. M. Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina (1754), I. 56. Muscicapa rubra. The *Summer Red-Bird. This is about the size of a Sparrow … and … is of a bright red.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 111. Summer Red-bird, rich rose-red, or vermilion, including wings and tail.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 354. Full as the *summer-rose Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid.
1841. Whittier, Lucy Hooper, 3. All of thee we loved and cherished Has with thy summer roses perished.
1860. Hogg, Fruit Manual, 214. Pears … Summer Rose (Epine Rose: Ognonet; Rose; Thorny Rose).
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. II. 551. *Summer Snake. Coluber Æstivus.… Native of many parts of North America, residing on trees.
1802. Montagu, Ornith. Dict., Sandpiper—Common.… It is known in some places by the name of *Summer Snipe.
1849. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), II. 251. The summer snipes flitted whistling up the shallow.
1783. Latham, Gen. Synop. Birds, II. I. 220. *Summer Tanager. A little bigger than an House Sparrow.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 317.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 101. Querquedula Cristala … ab aucupibus dicta, the *Summer-Teal.
1766. [see GARGANEY].
1879. Encycl. Brit., X. 80/1 n.
1624. Middleton, Game at Chess, V. iii. The pelamis Which some call *summer-whiting, from Chalcedon.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1130. The English call them [sc. water-worms] *Summer-worms, either because they are seen only in Summer, or they die in Winter.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 59. Lumbrici aquatici, Summer-Worms.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., IV. 313. The jagged alligator, and the … behemoth … multiplied like summer worms On an abandoned corpse.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 97. Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler. Golden Warbler. *Summer Yellow-bird.
