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Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Indian summer en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈɪn.di.ən ˈsʌ.mɚ/ (General-American)
  • /ˈɪn.dɪ.ən ˈsʌ.mə(ɹ)/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Of North American origin, exact etymology uncertain. The most plausible suggestions are that Native Americans (or American Indians) called it a form of “summer” due to harvesting late plants or preparing for winter, or that European settlers coined it due to various Native American activities in this season, or due to the weather phenomenon being associated with regions inhabited by Native Americans. Alternatively, the use of the word Indian may indicate something deviating from the norm: compare terms like Indian bread, Indian corn.

Meanings

  1. (offensive, possibly) A stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.
    • Truth be told, I enjoyed the earthquake of '89; […] It was a warm night, Indian summer. The whole city seemed to be out of doors. It was like an enormous block party, all the neighbors sitting on their stoops, drinking beer, listening to their radios. 2004, August Kleinzahler, “The Dog, the Family: A Household Tale”, in Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, →ISBN, part 1:
    • The gentlemen were still lounging on the gallery, fighting time with newspapers and cigars, for the Indian Summer kept up a charming pretense that Winter had forgotten to cross the water; […] 1869 February, “The Bismarck Moire”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours: Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume VI, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie, […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 381, column 1:
    • Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer. 1778 January 17, J[ohn] Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, Letters from an American Farmer: […], London: Printed for Thomas Davies […], and Lockyer Davis […], published 1782, →OCLC; republished as Albert E. Stone, editor, Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-century America (Penguin Classics), New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1986, →ISBN, page 233:
    • And while the bards, before my fancy bring / The Indian ſummer, and Italian ſpring, / Rapt let me mark the different climates found, / In Temple's gardens, and his lawns around. 1786 July, “Written in Lord Palmerston’s Park near Romsey, Hants”, in The County Magazine, volume VII, number I, Salisbury, Witshire: Printed for and sold by B. C. Collins, and by S. Crowder, in London, published 1788, →OCLC, page 100:
    • There is sunshine in the face of all—a kind of Indian summer sunshine, infused with the sadness of a coming winter; and theirs is the winter of parting. 1892, Gilbert Parker, “Shon McGann’s Tobogan Ride”, in Pierre And His People: Tales of the Far North, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, section II, page 158:
  2. (figuratively) The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
    • We may come to look back on the Sixties as the Indian summer of the Western imagination, of the last aristocrats of Western taste. Beginning with [John F.] Kennedy, the era ends with [Richard] Nixon and Joe Frazier, his hatchet-man … Cavaliers had better beware. The Roundheads are back in force. 1971 March 9, Francis Wheen, quoting Kenneth Tynan, “Introduction: The Paranoia Blues”, in Strange Days Indeed: The Golden Age of Paranoia, paperback edition, London: Fourth Estate, HarperCollins Publishers, published 2010, →ISBN, page 6:
    • Instead of focusing on winning the next election for her husband, Nancy Reagan can turn to the broader mission of helping others. She is laying down her own legacy next to her husband's. This kind of activism is often the hallmark of people in their Indian summer season. Their energy is fueled by a sense of urgency that is lacking in youth. 2004 June 15, Abigail Trafford, “Nancy Reagan’s Second Act”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2018, page HE01:
    • Here, in what she had begun to think of as the Indian summer of her life, she was claiming a future that held infinite and delicious possibilities; and she would spend the coming years with someone who would bring all the seasons alive. 2012 November 26, Betty R. Pritchett, The Indian Summer of Mary Margaret Masters, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 262:
    • Thus, while at times before our eye / The clouds about the present part, / And, smiling through them, round us lie / Soft hues of Memory's evening sky – / The Indian summer of the heart, / In secret sympathies of mind, / In founts of feeling which retain / Their pure fresh flow, we yet may find / Our early dreams not wholly vain! 1843, John G[reenleaf] Whittier, “Memories”, in Lays of My Home, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor, →OCLC, page 110:
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Indian, summer.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
Indian summers Number=Plur lexicographic

Coordinates

blackberry winter · squaw winter

Descendants

été indien · été des Indiens

Synonyms

all-hallown summer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · St. Luke's summer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · St. Martin's summer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · Michaelmas summer (stretch of warm days in autumn)

Translations (64)

de Altweibersommer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ga fómhar beag na ngéanna (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · mk ци́ганско ле́то (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sv brittsommar (stretch of warm days in autumn) · eu uda txiki (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ga samhradh beag (stretch of warm days in autumn) · el γαλήνια γηρατειά (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · kk қоңыр күз (stretch of warm days in autumn) · fr été indien (stretch of warm days in autumn) · pl pogodna jesień życia (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · ca estiuet de Sant Martí (stretch of warm days in autumn) · lv atvasara (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sh Miholjsko ljeto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · he קיץ אינדיאני (stretch of warm days in autumn) · hu indián nyár (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ru инде́йское ле́то (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sh Martinjsko ljeto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · pt veranico (stretch of warm days in autumn) · cs indiánské léto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · eu San Martinetako uda txiki (stretch of warm days in autumn) · fr été des Indiens (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ko 인디언 서머 (stretch of warm days in autumn) · uk бабине літо (stretch of warm days in autumn) · nb indian summer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ja 小春 (stretch of warm days in autumn) · yue 秋老虎 (stretch of warm days in autumn) · be бабі́на ле́та (stretch of warm days in autumn) · fr été de la Saint-Martin (stretch of warm days in autumn) · mk ѓу́пско ле́то (stretch of warm days in autumn) · pt verão de São Martinho (stretch of warm days in autumn) · hu vénasszonyok nyara (stretch of warm days in autumn) · lt bobų vasara (stretch of warm days in autumn) · tr pastırma yazı (stretch of warm days in autumn) · myv сово (stretch of warm days in autumn) · nb husmannssommer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · nb sensommer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · bg циганско лято (stretch of warm days in autumn) · fo heystlýkka (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ru ба́бье ле́то (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ru ба́бье ле́то (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · fa گرمای پاییزه (stretch of warm days in autumn) · fi intiaanikesä (stretch of warm days in autumn) · cmn 秋老虎 (stretch of warm days in autumn) · it estate indiana (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sh druga mladost (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · sk babie leto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · pl babie lato (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ar صَيْف هِنْدِيّ (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ro vară indiană (stretch of warm days in autumn) · de zweiter Frühling (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · es veranillo (stretch of warm days in autumn) · pl złota jesień (stretch of warm days in autumn) · nl nazomer (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ja 返り咲く (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · fi intiaanikesä (late autumn of life; late flowering of activity before old age) · cs babí léto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sv indiansommar (stretch of warm days in autumn) · eu San Martin hegoak (stretch of warm days in autumn) · el γαϊδουροκαλόκαιρο (stretch of warm days in autumn) · ja 小春日和 (stretch of warm days in autumn) · nrf p'tit êté (stretch of warm days in autumn) · sh bablje ljeto (stretch of warm days in autumn) · it estate di San Martino (stretch of warm days in autumn) · cy Haf Bach Mihangel (stretch of warm days in autumn)

wikipedia: National Weather Service · wikipedia: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration · wikipedia: Monthly Weather Review