Word.ws English Dictionary

sumner

UK/ˈsʌmnə/US/ˈsʌmnɚ/

sumner is the obsolete form of summoner.

Meaning of summoner

Noun

summoner (plural summoners)

  1. One who summons or evokes, particularly in legal contexts.
  2. (historical) An apparitor; an officer of an ecclesiastical court whose job it was to deliver a summons to an offending member of the diocese.
  3. A small bell for summoning an employee to provide service.
    • And as they change, they set into bright relief not only outmoded honorifics and hunting horns, but silver summoners and mother-of-pearl opera glasses and all manner of carefully crafted things that have outlived their usefulness.2016, Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow, →ISBN, page 119

Proper noun capitalized: Sumner

Sumner

  1. A surname originating as an occupation for a summoner in court.
  2. An outer suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
  3. A seaside suburb of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
  4. A small town in Worth County, Georgia.
  5. A small city in Lawrence County, Illinois.
  6. A city in Bremer County, Iowa.
  7. A town in Oxford County, Maine.
  8. A township and unincorporated community therein, in Gratiot County, Michigan.
  9. A township in Fillmore County, Minnesota, named after Charles Sumner.
  10. A small town in Mississippi, and one of the two county seats of Tallahatchie County.
  11. A small city in Chariton County, Missouri.
  12. A village in Dawson County, Nebraska.
Show 8 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. A rural community of Noble County, Oklahoma.
  2. A neighbourhood of Portland, Oregon.
  3. An unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas.
  4. A city in Pierce County, Washington.
  5. A town and unincorporated community in Barron County, Wisconsin.
  6. A town in Jefferson County, Wisconsin.
  7. A town in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.
  8. A number of other townships, listed under Sumner Township.

Forms of sumner

pluralsumners

Origin of sumner

From Middle English sumner (“summoner”).

Words formed from sumner

Questions about sumner

What does sumner mean?
Sumner means a surname originating as an occupation for a summoner in court.
What is sumner the obsolete form of?
Sumner is the obsolete form of summoner.
What part of speech is sumner?
Sumner is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sumner?
Sumner is pronounced /ˈsʌmnɚ/ (US).

Words near sumner in the dictionary

  1. summum malum
  2. summut
  3. summy
  4. Summys
  5. sumn
  6. sumner
  7. Sumner County
  8. sumners
  9. sumo
  10. sumo deadlift
  11. sumo deadlifts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sumner (page history and authors); Sumner (page history and authors); summoner (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.

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Cite this entry: “sumner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sumner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.