summons

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌ.mənz/

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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Etymology 1

From Middle English somouns (“order or command to do something”), borrowed from Old French sumunce (modern French semonce), from Vulgar Latin *summonsa, a noun use of the feminine past participle of summoneō, summonēre (“to summon”).

Noun

summons (plural summonses)

1. A call to do something, especially to come.
   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI:

     He sent to summon the seditious, and to offer pardon […] ; but neither summons nor pardon was any thing regarded.

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the Most Learned, Reverend and Pious Dr. H. Hammond:

     this summons […] unfit either to dispute or disobey

   • 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages:

     special summonses by the king

2. (law) A notice summoning someone to appear in court, as a defendant, juror or witness.
   • 1955 December, “Emission of Smoke by Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 812:

     Four summonses were brought recently on behalf of St. Pancras Borough Council against the British Transport Commission in respect of the emission of smoke by locomotives standing at Camden Motive Power Depot. (The summonses were dismissed)

3. (military) A demand for surrender.

Derived terms

• alias summons
• originating summons
• pluries summons
• writ of summons

Descendants

• → Bengali: সমন (śomon)
• → Cebuano: sumon
• → Malay: saman
  • → English: saman
  • → English: summon
• → Tamil: சம்மன் (cammaṉ)

Translations

call to do something, especially to come

• Arabic: اِسْتِدْعَاء m (istidʕāʔ)
• Azerbaijani: çağırış (az)
• Belarusian: выкліка́нне n (vyklikánnje), вы́клік m (výklik), вы́заў m (výzaw)
• Bulgarian: при́зив (bg) m (príziv)
• Catalan: citació (ca) f
• Czech: výzva (cs) f
• Dutch: oproep (nl) m
• Finnish: kutsu (fi) (general); kokouskutsu (fi) (to a formal meeting)
• French: convocation (fr) f
• Galician: chamamento (gl) m
• German: Aufforderung (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κλῆσις f (klêsis)

• Irish: toghairm f
• Italian: convocazione (it) f, adunanza (it) f
• Japanese: 呼び出し (ja) (よびだし, yobidashi)
• Ottoman Turkish: دعوت (daʼvet)
• Polish: wezwanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: convocação (pt) f
• Russian: вы́зов (ru) m (výzov)
• Spanish: convocatoria (es) f
• Swedish: kallelse (sv) c
• Ukrainian: ви́клик m (výklyk), за́клик m (záklyk), виклика́ння n (vyklykánnja)

notice summoning someone to appear in court

• Albanian: fletëthirrje (sq)
• Arabic: اِسْتِدْعَاء m (istidʕāʔ)
• Armenian: ծանուցագիր (hy) (canucʻagir)
• Azerbaijani: çağırış (az)
• Belarusian: паве́стка f (pavjéstka)
• Bengali: সমন (bn) (śomon)
• Bulgarian: призо́вка (bg) f (prizóvka), повиква́телна (bg) f (povikvátelna)
• Catalan: compareixença (ca) f
• Cebuano: sumon
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 傳票 / 传票 (zh) (chuánpiào), 傳訊 / 传讯 (zh) (chuánxùn)

• Czech: předvolání n
• Dutch: dagvaarding (nl) f
• Finnish: haaste (fi) (as defendant); kutsu (fi) (as juror or witness)
• French: citation à comparaître (fr) f, citation (fr) f, convocation (fr) f
• German: Vorladung (de) f
• Greek: κλήση (el) f (klísi)

  Ancient: κλῆσις f (klêsis)

• Hindi: सम्मन (hi) m (samman)
• Hungarian: idézés (hu), beidézés (hu)
• Indonesian: surat panggilan sidang, surat pemanggilan sidang
• Irish: fógra m, toghairm f
• Italian: citazione (it) f
• Japanese: 召喚 (ja) (しょうかん, shōkan), 召喚状 (ja) (しょうかんじょう, shōkanjō)
• Korean: 소환(召喚) (ko) (sohwan), 소환장(召喚狀) (sohwanjang)
• Malay: saman
• Polish: wezwanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: intimação (pt) f
• Russian: пове́стка (ru) f (povéstka)
• Slovak: predvolanie n
• Spanish: citación (es) f
• Swahili: barua ya wito
• Swedish: kallelse (sv) c
• Tamil: சம்மன் (cammaṉ)
• Thai: หมายเรียก (th) (mǎai-rîiak)
• Ukrainian: пові́стка f (povístka)
• Welsh: gwŷs f

Verb

summons (third-person singular simple present summonses, present participle summonsing, simple past and past participle summonsed)

1. (transitive) To serve someone with a summons. [17th C.]
   • 2007 March 15, The Guardian, page 1:

     It proposes that those held in the prototype Selfridges cells be kept for a maximum of four hours to have their identity confirmed and be charged, summonsed or given a fine.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

summons

1. plural of summon

Verb

summons

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of summon

Further reading

• summons on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Summons in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• musmons