Emily Dickinson Lexicon

summer (-s, -'s), n. [OE 'half-year'.]

1. Warmer weather.
2. Season before the cool weather comes; [kenning: “summer's brows”] crops; harvests; garden yields; fields and foliage.
3. Warmth; light; verdure; long days; [fig.] affection; enlightenment; sustenance; endless delight.
4. Period of the year with most daylight.
5. Gathering season; [fig.] celestial glory; resurrection day; the kingdom of God (see Luke 21:29-31).
6. Time when many flowers bloom; [personification] a well-dressed woman; a fastidious matron; a reverent person.
7. Prime; bloom; time of life-giving forces; [fig.] life; lifetime; life span.
8. Glorious season; lovely time of the year; [fig.] delightful day; time of complete joy.
9. Growing season; time in the northern hemisphere when plants, flowers, and other living things flourish; [personification] a Bride decked in flowers for her wedding day.
10. Season comprising June, July, and August in the northern hemisphere; June 21^st through September 20^th; time period of about three months.
11. Warmest season; time of the year between spring and fall.
12. Fullness; high point of the seasons; time of longest days; period of most light in the year; [word play on “sum”] auditor; accountant; one who casts up an account (see NW's definition “one who casts accounts”).
13. Phrase. “Summer's full”: Midsummer; time of most sunlight in the calendar year; solstice that happens about June 21^st each year in the northern hemisphere of the earth.
14. Phrase. “Indian Summer”: (see Indian, proper adj.) reprisal; period of warmer weather in autumn; time of summer temperatures in the fall season of the year.