n.
- The usually warmest season of the year, occurring between spring and autumn and constituting June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere, or, as calculated astronomically, extending from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox.
- A period of fruition, fulfillment, happiness, or beauty.
- A year: a girl of 13 summers.
v., -mered, -mer·ing, -mers. v.tr.
To lodge or keep during the summer: summered the herd in the south meadow.
v.intr.
To pass the summer: They summered at a beach resort.
adj.
- Of, having to do with, occurring in, or appropriate to the season of summer: summer heat; summer attire.
- Grown during the season of summer: summer crops.
[Middle English sumer, from Old English sumor.]
summerly sum'mer·ly adv. & adj.sum·mer2 (sŭm'ər)
n.
- A heavy horizontal timber that serves as a supporting beam, especially for the floor above.
- A lintel.
- A large, heavy stone usually set on the top of a column or pilaster to support an arch or lintel.
[Middle English, beam, pack animal, from Anglo-Norman sumer, from Vulgar Latin *saumārius, from Late Latin sagmārius, pertaining to a packsaddle, packhorse, from sagma, packsaddle. See sumpter.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
