Indian summer
Syllables: In·di·an sum·merUK/ˈɪn.dɪ.ən ˈsʌ.mə(ɹ)/US/ˈɪn.di.ən ˈsʌ.mɚ/
Indian summer noun: a stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.
Noun
Indian summer (plural Indian summers)
- A stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.
- 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...
- 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...
- Synonyms:
- St. Luke's summer, all-hallown summer, St. Martin's summer, Michaelmas summer
- The late autumn of life; a late flowering of activity before old age.
- 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 /...1843, John G[reenleaf] Whittier, “Memories”, in Lays of My Home, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor, →OCLC, page 110
- 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...
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see Indian, summer.
Indian summer meaning in Tamil, Arabic and Persian
Indian summer in Tamil
- இந்திய கோடை
Indian summer in Arabic
- stretch of warm days in autumn
- صَيْف هِنْدِيّ ṣayf hindiyy
Indian summer in Persian
- stretch of warm days in autumn
- گرمای پاییزه
Examples of Indian summer in a sentence
- 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...
- 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...
- Truth be told, I enjoyed the earthquake of '89; […] It was a warm night, Indian summer.2004, August Kleinzahler, “The Dog, the Family: A Household Tale”, in Cutty, One Rock: Low Characters and Strange Places, Gently Explained...
- This kind of activism is often the hallmark of people in their Indian summer season.2004 June 15, Abigail Trafford, “Nancy Reagan’s Second Act”, in The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN...
Synonyms of Indian summer
- St. Luke's summer
- all-hallown summer
- St. Martin's summer
- Michaelmas summer
Forms of Indian summer
| plural | Indian summers |
|---|
Origin of Indian summer
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.
Questions about Indian summer
- What does Indian summer mean?
- Indian summer means a stretch of sunny and warm, often hazy, days during late autumn.
- What is Indian summer in Tamil?
- Indian summer in Tamil is இந்திய கோடை. See Indian summer meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use Indian summer in a sentence?
- 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; […]
- What part of speech is Indian summer?
- Indian summer is a noun.
- How do you pronounce Indian summer?
- Indian summer is pronounced /ˈɪn.dɪ.ən ˈsʌ.mə(ɹ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of Indian summer?
- The plural of Indian summer is Indian summers.
Words near Indian summer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Indian summer (page history and authors); indian summer (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-Indian summer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “Indian summer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/indian_summer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.