ENGLISH
REFERENCE

summon

v.
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈsəmən// UK //sˈʌmən// sum·mon Informal Slang

v. to call someone to come to you, often because you need help or have an important request. You can also use it when you gather your courage or energy to do something difficult.

v. to call for the presence or attendance of someone; to evoke or bring forth a quality, memory, or feeling. Transitive — always takes a direct object.


SIMPLE

The manager summoned the team for a quick meeting.

CONTEXTUAL

She summoned all her patience to explain the rules to the noisy children.

COMPLEX

The director summoned the actors to the stage, where the heavy silence of the audience waited for their first line.

Synonyms
Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman somoundre, from Old French sumundre, from Latin summonēre, itself from sub + monēre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European monéyeti, causative from men- (“to think”). Compare typologically from the same PIE root mention, Russian помина́ть (pominátʹ), упомина́ть (upominátʹ) (developed less further, keeping strong relation with по́мнить (pómnitʹ)), also compare помина́й как зва́ли (pomináj kak zváli) (<+ звать (zvatʹ)).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Malay saman (“fine, financial penalty”), which is itself borrowed from English summons (“notice summoning someone to appear in court”). This sense re-emerged in English as summon likely due to the erroneous belief that the original singular English word summons is plural. Doublet of summons and saman.

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object.

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