midsummern.
/ˌmɪdˈsʌmə/, /ˈmɪdsʌmə/, U.S. /ˈmɪdˈsəmər/ a. The middle of summer; spec. (a) Midsummer Day (24 June); (b) the day of the summer solstice (21 or 22 June), or the period around this. Also figurative.From the 13th century, midsummer was celebrated in Britain with feasting, merrymaking, and the lighting of candles and bonfires.
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the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > summer > midsummer
summer's tideOE
midsummerOE
the world > time > period > year > season > [noun] > summer > midsummer > midsummer day or eve
Midsummer DaylOE
midsummer1530
witches' nighta1697
OE Laws: Romscot (Nero) i. 474 Romgescot sy agifen on sanctus petrus mæssedæg ær undern æfter middesumera.
OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) ii. i. 74 On xii kalendas Iulius byð sunstede, þæt ys on Lyden solstitium and on Englisc midsumor.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1052 Ða gewende Godwine eorl ut fram Brycge..and let ut ane dæge ær midsumeres mæsseæfene.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1101 Ða to midde sumeran ferde se cyng ut to Pefenesæ.
c1300 St. Thomas Becket (Laud) 1693 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 155 (MED) A-ȝein Midsomer it bi-ful.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 6150 (MED) Atte laste mid hor ost to gadereward hii drowe & mette hom after midsomer, þe feste of seint Ion.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 10546 Suþþe he nom iwis Winchestre aboute missomer.
1412 in J. Raine Catterick Church (1834) 11 Be mysomer next.
?a1425 MS Hunterian 95 f. 198v (MED) Þanne do þat in an erþene vessel & sette it in þe sunne xxx dayes aftir mydsomer.
a1475 (?1445) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1911) i. 369 Bryng us mydsomer of heuenly blys, I pray ȝow martyrs both Paule and Iohn.
a1483 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 313 Euery yowte Brodere..schalle pay euery yere vj d. at Myssomere.
a1500 Warkworth's Chron. (1839) 6 At myssomere, the Duke of Clarence passede the see to Caleis.
1513–14 in Proc. Suffolk Inst. Arch. (1901) 11 85 Delyverde to robarde Baxter a Cowe, and he to pay messumer nex come the forme ther off xx d.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 245/1 Mydsomer, la sainct Jehan.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cliij His wyfe..after aboute Midsomer, ended her life there.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iv. i. 103 Gorgeous as the sunne at Midsomer . View more context for this quotation
1625 N. Carpenter Geogr. Delineated i. x. 223 Their longest day at Midsummer is 24. houres.
1699 Robin Hood & Pr. Arragon xix, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1888) III. v. 148/2 ‘On Midsummer next,’ the damsel said, ‘Which is June the twenty-four’.
1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week iv. 27 At Eve last Midsummer no Sleep I sought.
1743 W. Friend Let. 5 May in A. P. Jenkins Corr. T. Secker (1991) 105 He will come to me at Midsummer; by which time I hope to be at Witney.
1840 J. Buel Farmer's Compan. (ed. 2) 44 The crops may then mature before they are injured by the intense heats of our mid-summers.
1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 672/1 The long days of midsummer..followed one another like a succession of day-dreams.
1937 Amer. Home Apr. 32/2 You will have to spend more time in spring and fall than in scorching midsummer.
1987 I. McEwan Child in Time i. 10 Opposite was a tall window through which, even in mid-summer, no sunlight ever passed.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [verb (intransitive)] > be slightly mad
to have but a mile to midsummer?a1500
to have a tile loose1846
?a1500 (a1471) Brut (Lyell) in J. S. Davies Eng. Chron. (1856) 92 (MED) Tho bestys that thys wroughte to mydsomer haue but a myle.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
midsummer beauty n.
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1867 ‘Ouida’ Cecil Castlemaine (1879) 5 The country was in its glad green midsummer beauty.
1934 Ecol. Monogr. 4 268 Myriads of flowers now contribute to the great wealth of midsummer beauty.
midsummer fair n.
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c1566 Scogin's Jests (Hazl.) 145 On a time about Midsummer faire, he..went to Barnwell.
1662 Dumbarton Burgh Rec. (1860) 81 The race saidle..run for at last midsummer fair.
midsummer holiday n.
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1829 E. Lewin Let. 3 May (1909) I. ii. 235 The thoughts of seeing Billy..will, of course, enhance the delight with which I look forward to the Midsummer holiday.
1857 E. C. Gaskell Life Charlotte Brontë viii In those Midsummer holidays of 1836, her friend B. came to stay with her at Haworth.
1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers vi. 134 The midsummer holiday was gone; it was a long while to Christmas.
midsummer night n.
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c1375 (?c1280) Birth Jesus (Egerton) 641 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1875) 1st Ser. 93 Þe schorteste niȝt þat was þo was missomerniȝt.
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Munus,..Munera, commune playes and gaye sightes for the peple to behold, to reioice them,..now in the citie of London, the watches & syghtes on midsomer nightes.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) iv. i. 95 If it had not bin for a hot Midsomer-night . View more context for this quotation
1889 W. Allingham Life & Phantasy 51 Like watching stars that lie soft and bright In the violet depths of the midsummer night.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) v. 151 To compensate for all this the splendour of coming midsummer nights flashed from her deep-brown eyes.
1924 E. Lloyd-Williams in J. Aaron View across Valley (1999) viii. 90 Is it my fault..if I was born of a Midsummer Night with the moon at the full?
1986 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 58 927 He joined with his people in celebrating the Christianized version of the pagan midsummer night's eve.
midsummer pomp n.
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1866 M. Arnold Thyrsis vii, in Macmillan's Mag. Apr. 450 Soon will the high Midsummer pomps come on.
midsummer-rose n. poetic
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c1460 J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 781 (MED) Al stant on chaung, lyke a mydsomyr roose.
midsummer-sunbeam n.
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1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. xii. 242 Warmed by the midsummer sunbeams.
midsummer-time n.
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1487 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (St. John's Cambr.) x. 823 Gif at Mydsummer tyme ane ȝeir To cum, it war nocht with bata[i]ll Reskewit, than [etc.].
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 45 The riuer Nouanus at euery midsummertime swelles and runs ouer the bankes.
1893 W. B. Scott Poet's Harvest Home 184 Early astir in this midsummer time In the Queen's close.
C2. † midsummer ale n. Obsolete now historical a festive gathering held at midsummer.† midsummer even n. Obsolete = midsummer eve n.† midsummer games n. [in quot. translating a Latin work (by a German author) based on Pliny Nat. Hist.: the games were not an English tradition] Obsolete festivities held at midsummer.† midsummer maze n. Obsolete = midsummer madness n.† midsummer quarter n. Obsolete the quarter that begins with Midsummer Day; (also) the quarter day, 24 June.† midsummer sights n. [in quot. translating a Latin work (by a German author) based on Pliny Nat. Hist.: the performances were not an English tradition] Obsolete rural dramatic performances at midsummer.† midsummer silver n. Obsolete the plant silverweed, Potentilla anserina.† midsummer-tide n. Obsolete the time around midsummer.
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society > leisure > social event > festive occasion > specific festivities > [noun] > festivities associated with midsummer
summer gamea1400
watch1445
summer ale1586
summering1606
midsummer alea1639
a1639 S. Marmion Antiquary (1641) iv. sig. I3 And now next Midsummer ale, I may serve for a fool.
1874 Appletons' Jrnl. 13 June 748/2 A mere glance at some of the drinks given to certain divisions of the calendar will show what these fine old English gentlemen thought about drinking. These are, leet ale, lamb ale, Whitsun ale, clerk ale, midsummer ale, and others.
midsummer chafer n. now rare the summer chafer, Amphimallon solstitiale, a hairy brown Eurasian beetle which flies at dusk at midsummer and whose larvae can be a pest of grass roots.
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1830 J. Rennie Insect Transformations ix. 228 The grub of an allied genus, the midsummer chafer (Zantheumia Solstitialis, Leach), has for the last two years been abundant on Lewisham Hill, Blackheath.
1903 H. Scherren Pop. Nat. Hist. Lower Animals iv. 107 The Midsummer Chafer, a smaller insect, is also British.
midsummer daisy n. regional the ox-eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare.
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1870 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants (ed. 2) 153 Midsummer daisy.
1937 J. Turle Out of Doors in Eng. 149 The ox-eye daisy, or dog-daisy, is the flower dedicated to St. Barnabas, and there is hardly a meadow in England at midsummer where you will not find them. Indeed, the name for them that I like best is midsummer daisy; but you do not hear it very often now.
midsummer eve n. (also midsummer's eve) the eve of Midsummer Day.
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the world > time > period > year > [noun] > specific days of the year
Candlemas1014
May Day1267
All Souls' Dayc1300
midsummer evena1400
firstc1400
Beltane1424
midsummer eve1426
quarter day1435
Beltane1456
mid-Sundaya1475
madding-day1568
Lord Mayor's day1591
Barnaby bright1595
Lammas-eve1597
All Saints' Night1607
Handsel Monday1635
distaff's day1648
long Barnabya1657
St. Valentine's eve1671
leet-day1690
All Fools' Day1702
Boxing Day1743
April Fool's Day1748
Royal Oak Day1759
box day1765
Oak-apple Day1802
All Souls' Eve1805
mischief night1830
Shick-shack Day1847
chalk-back day1851
call night1864
Nut-Monday1867
Arbor Day1872
April Fool's1873
Labour Day1884
Martinmas Sunday1885
call day1886
Samhain1888
Juneteenth1890
Mother's Day1890
Father's Day1908
Thinking Day1927
Punkie night1931
Tweede Nuwejaar1947
1426–7 in H. Littlehales Medieval Rec. London City Church (1905) 66 On mydsomer eve, a dawber and his man, xiiij d.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 7709 I fele so swete odour As þou it were mydsomyr eue.
a1722 J. Toland Coll. Several Pieces (1726) I. 73 The Celtic nations kindl'd..fires on midsummer eve.
a1771 C. Smart Poems (1791) II. 50 By a prattling stream, on a Midsummer's eve.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. v. 438 On midsummer eve, when it is well known all kinds of ghosts, goblins, and fairies, become visible and walk abroad.
1904 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 53 The elderbush is cut on Midsummer Eve.
1971 ELH 38 119 The traditional Midsummer's Eve festival.
1975 Amer. Hist. Rev. 80 992/2 Celebration of Christmas, Midsummer Eve, and other holidays.
1994 Speculum 69 1228 Le jeu de la feuillée..was probably first produced in Arras on Midsummer's Eve 1276 or 1277.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > period > year > [noun] > specific days of the year
Candlemas1014
May Day1267
All Souls' Dayc1300
midsummer evena1400
firstc1400
Beltane1424
midsummer eve1426
quarter day1435
Beltane1456
mid-Sundaya1475
madding-day1568
Lord Mayor's day1591
Barnaby bright1595
Lammas-eve1597
All Saints' Night1607
Handsel Monday1635
distaff's day1648
long Barnabya1657
St. Valentine's eve1671
leet-day1690
All Fools' Day1702
Boxing Day1743
April Fool's Day1748
Royal Oak Day1759
box day1765
Oak-apple Day1802
All Souls' Eve1805
mischief night1830
Shick-shack Day1847
chalk-back day1851
call night1864
Nut-Monday1867
Arbor Day1872
April Fool's1873
Labour Day1884
Martinmas Sunday1885
call day1886
Samhain1888
Juneteenth1890
Mother's Day1890
Father's Day1908
Thinking Day1927
Punkie night1931
Tweede Nuwejaar1947
OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. 1 (rubric) Ðis godspel gebyrað on midde sumeres mæsseæfen.]
a1400 in T. Wright & J. O. Halliwell Reliquiæ Antiquæ (1845) I. 53 (MED) Tak the rede netylles on Myssomer even, and dry tham.
c1450 (?a1370) Wynnere & Wastoure (1990) l. 166 One Missomer euen.
1556 in J. G. Nichols Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 16 On mydsomer evyn [1433] the duke with hys wyffe came to London.
1648 in M. M. Banks Sc. Cal. Customs (1937–41) III. 173 17th Oct., 1648. The Assemblie ordains that intimatioun be made of the acts against superstitious fyres, the Sabbath befor midsomer evin and Hallow evin.
1820 M. G. Brooks Judith, Esther, & Other Poems 46 It was a calm midsummer even, The moon in pensive smiles arrayed.
a1864 J. Clare Early Poems (1989) II. 57 When we met last love on midsummer even.
ΚΠ
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 6v The Fathers..busied them selues rather with Pageantes and Midsommer games, then with the Vineyard.
midsummer growth n. Botany (in a tree) a second period of growth in a season.
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1832 in J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. (ed. 2) 583 In choosing and preparing the bud, fix on one seated at about the middle of a healthy shoot of the midsummer growth.
1957 N.Z. Timber Jrnl. Nov. 59/2 Midsummer growth, the second period of active growth shown by some trees.
midsummer madness n. extreme foolishness (cf. midsummer moon n.).
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the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [noun] > excessive
midsummer maze1523
idiocy1528
idiotacy1583
midsummer madnessa1616
supernodity1622
idioticalness1668
jackassness1803
jackassism1817
jackassery1833
damfoolishness1882
damfoolery1909
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > madness, extreme folly > [noun]
woodnessc1000
woodhead1303
madnessc1384
ragec1390
lunacya1592
idiotism1592
wittolry1592
midsummer madnessa1616
hare-brainedness1656
idiotry1757
insanity1840
meshugas1898
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) iii. iv. 54 Why this is verie Midsommer madnesse . View more context for this quotation
1819 Ld. Byron Let. 26 June (1976) VI. 165 We hear that you have been challenged by Antient Pistol Major Cartwright—This seems to me mere Midsummer madness.
1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iii. v. 594 The freshmen..celebrated the beauty of the season with a good deal of midsummer madness.
1970 M. Peters in Midsummer Variations 203 Midsummer madness they all said That summer day when we were wed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > foolishness, folly > [noun] > excessive
midsummer maze1523
idiocy1528
idiotacy1583
midsummer madnessa1616
supernodity1622
idioticalness1668
jackassness1803
jackassism1817
jackassery1833
damfoolishness1882
damfoolery1909
1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 1208 To face out her foly with a midsomer maze.
midsummer men n. (originally) a pair of orpine plants, symbolizing a young man and his sweetheart, which were set upright by girls on midsummer eve to prognosticate the course of their love; (in later use, also occasionally in singular as midsummer man) the plant orpine ( Hylotelephium telephium) itself; the related plant roseroot, Sedum rosea.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Crassulaceae (stonecrop and allies) > [noun] > stonecrop
sengreenc1000
stonecropc1000
orpine?a1300
orval?a1300
mouse grassc1300
stonehorea1400
Crassulac1400
sedumc1440
thrift1538
prick-madam1542
mousetail1548
livelong1578
wall pepper1578
worm-grass1578
country pepper1597
jack of the buttery1597
pricket1597
stone-pepper1597
trick-madam1600
trip-madam1693
midsummer mena1697
rosewort1725
roseroot1731
live forever1760
ice plant1818
wall moss1855
Jacka1876
wall grass1882
thick-leaf1884
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination by natural phenomena > [noun] > by plants > plant so used
midsummer mena1697
a1697 J. Aubrey Remaines Gentilisme & Judaisme (1881) 25 Also I remember, the mayds..would stick-up in some chinkes of the joists..Midsommer-men, wch are slips of Orpins. they placed them by Paires..one for such a man, the other for such a mayd his sweet-heart.
c1797 H. More Tawney Rachel 7 She would never go to bed on Midsummer eve without sticking up in her room the well known plant called Midsummer-man, as the bending of the leaves to the right or to the left, would not fail to tell her whether Jacob..was true or false.
1865 G. Bentham Illustr. Handbk. Brit. Flora I. 294 Rhodiola rosea... Roseroot. Midsummer-men.
1879 Herefordshire Times 28 June 13 A piece of orpine..was set in clay upon pieces of slate..and placed in the house, being termed a ‘Midsummer man’.
1902 T. W. Sanders Encycl. Gardening (ed. 5) 235 Midsummer Men (Sedum telephium).
1973 in J. Simpson Folklore of Sussex x. 123 When we were children, we made Midsummer Men.
1996 Chiltern Seeds Catal. 216 Rose Root. Midsummer Men... An interesting and attractive uncommon native wild flower found growing in rock crevices in mountains.
midsummer moon n. now poetic and literary (perhaps) the full moon around midsummer (both being things traditionally associated with madness; hence, sometimes alluded to as a time when lunacy was supposed to be prevalent).
ΚΠ
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxix Wede them clene in mydsomer mone.
1589 ‘M. Marprelate’ Epitome (1843) 14 Whether it be midsommer Moone with him or no.
1690 J. Dryden Amphitryon iv. 39 What's this Midsummer-Moon? Is all the World gone a-madding?
1888 Overland Monthly Aug. 176 Under the midsummer moon So fragrant the garden reposes.
1910 E. W. Wilcox Yesterdays 12 Down here is the path where we wandered together, 'Neath the midsummer moon.
1980 Shakespeare Q. 31 319 A Midsummer Night's Dream has the more phantasmagoric quality associated with lunacies of love and the midsummer moon.
ΚΠ
1442 in B. Marsh Rec. Worshipful Company Carpenters (1914) II. 6 Fyrst, Resywide at myelmas quat., xij s. x d...myssomer quat., xij s.
1553–4 in H. J. F. Swayne Churchwardens' Accts. Sarum (1896) 99 Wyllyam lobbe for kepynge of the clocke for mydsomer quarter xx d.
1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery xxi. 163 Midsummer Quarter... In this Quarter are fine Smelts, and holds till after Christmas.
1865 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 28 191 The natural growth of the population during the last midsummer quarter was 94,184.
ΚΠ
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 16 The husbandes..spent their time rather in Maygames and Midsommer sightes, then with tylling the ground, or planting of Uines.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > rosaceous plants > [noun] > potentilla or cinquefoil
quinquefoileOE
five-leafc1000
goose-grassa1400
camorochec1440
five-leaved grass1526
tansyc1530
cinquefoil1538
potentilla1548
five-fingered grass1562
agrimony1578
silverweed1578
goose-tansy1597
silver grass1600
silverwort1611
five-finger-grass1640
midsummer silvera1697
strawberry cinquefoil1753
Scotch cinquefoil1789
goose-weed1865
five-finger1866
fair days1884
fair-grass1884
potentil1884
a1697 J. Aubrey Nat. Hist. Surrey (1718) III. 62 In this Place [sc. Lingfield, Surrey] the Inhabitants are very fond of Ghirlands, or Garlands, made of Midsummer Silver, a little Herb, which continues all the Year of a bright Ash Colour, and have crowded the Church and their own Houses with them.
1809 O. Manning & W. Bray Hist. & Antiq. Surrey II. 340 No such custom now prevails (1808), nor do old people remember it. The Midsummer Silver is common here.
midsummer term n. the term in which Midsummer Day falls; (also) †the quarter day, 24 June (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1438 in B. Marsh Rec. Worshipful Company Carpenters (1914) II. 1 (MED) For Midsomer terme next that, viij s. ix d.
1577 in C. P. Stewart Hist. Mem. Stewarts of Fothergill (1870) 106 Compleit payment of the malis..intromettit with..for the said midsymmer terme nixtocum.
1916 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 24 771 They would be ready before the end of the midsummer term to meet all requirements.
ΚΠ
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 224 (MED) Fro Midsomeretide to þe Apostle S. Thomas.
c1450 Brut (Egerton) 450 (MED) At Mydsomertyde, Henry Beauford..went ouer þe see.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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